To become a Fox
by Lightning Master Zero
Summary: Naruto's greatest adventure now begins as he begins to transform into a spirit fox. Romance will bloom and with the return of the Arutimetto Hitokiri Naruto will grow more into something moree amazing than anyone ever thought possible
1. Fox days

1Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Hello peoples this if the first of many chapters in this story of mine. I have been trying to get it ready for awhile now but because of school work and other stuff couldn't. I now I have a who has been waiting for me forever to put this story up so this chapter is for you

To become a Fox: Part one

The sun was going down as Naruto walked through Konohagkure. He had just gone through hell again after returning from the another mission without Sasuke which didn't help his image in the village. As he walked down the street the villagers glared at him some threw thing others just stood there and yelled "Demon why don't you leave and never come back!"as he reached the center of town only a few blocks from his house he was alerted to the sound of people... lots of people, and to make it worse they were armed. "Just great the last thing I need is an angry mob." Naruto thought as turned to face the mob. And there they were, about sixty of the villagers and a few ninja here and there.

He stared at them for about five seconds before he turned his back to the crowd and started to walk away. This prompted the crowd to start to rush towards him but they stopped when he turned around. His eyes were red and slitted was there was visible red aura surrounding him and his shadow it wasn't human... as they looked at it on the ground it's form twisted and the shadow grew until it resembled the Kuuybi, it tails swishing in every direction. The voice that came from him was hardly human as he uttered "Leave... NOW!"

To say that the people in the mob ran away would be redundant, it was more like track runners on steroids. When they were out of sight Naruto slowly began to change back into his normal form, his shadow receded as the Nine-tailed fox chakra faded from his being. He hadn't expected a mob but then again he hadn't expected Sakura to almost try and kill him either. The first week he's back from training and Sasuke with Orochimaru had been spotted in the Wave Country. He was sent out with a team of ANBU plus Jiraiya to retrieve sasuke and take down orchimaru.

The mission turned out as a complete slaughter of the team. When they found the supposed area they were ambushed by a small battalion of sound ninja. The battle raged for hours and just when it seemed they would win who should show up but Orchimaru and Sasuke. They teamed up on Jiraiya attacking the toad-senin relentlessly while Naruto and the ANBU battle the sound ninja. In the chaos of the battle Jiraiya was beginning to weaken from the combined attacks from the Uchiha with the Snake senin and although most of the sound ninja had been dispatched the ANBU were beginning to fall one by one to there power. The battle looked one sided as they defended themselves against Orchimaru, Sasuke and the large group of sound ninja for over an hour but in the end it looked like they would lose. Until...

Naruto flinched at the memory, closing his eyes he envisioned himself in his four-tailed state. It happened right as Jiraiya seemed beat, the chakra in the area flared as the Kuuybi made it's presence known through Naruto but this time it was different...almost as if naruto had partial control of himself as he fought both Orochimaru and Sasuke. Eventually the battle began to toll his opponents and it seemed like he would walk away alive... that was before he was struck with the combined force of orchimaru's Kusinagi and Sasuke's new technique the Chidori blade, straight in the back.

But just when it seemed like all was lost the was eruption of red and blue chakra from his body the force if it blowing away all in the area. The blast took out any sound ninja left and blew any others away knocking out jirya in the process and the last remaining anbu. After that all he remembered blacking out. Yet somehow he had been able to carry Jiraiya and the ANBU who's name was Ryoma all the way to the village gate even with a gaping hole in his upper back. The only good thing to come out of it was that when he woke up in the hospital three days later he found that Jiraiya and Ryoma were in good health.

Later that day he was visit by Ryoma's family who gave him there thanks and left him with dinner. That was the only good thing that had happen he thought. Those memory brought him back to today. Today was not a good day. It started earlier when Sakura had learned of the mission's failure and had confronted him about it... He shook his head not wanting to think about anything anymore.

Tired dejected and now very very angry he made his way to the small apartment he called home. Walking up to his bed he fell into it not really caring to remove his clothes. Soon he fell into a deep sleep...

Naruto woke in a hallway the whole hall was red and there seemed to be a fine red mist coming from the ground. He stood up slowly recognizing the hall in which he stood it was the link between him and the Nine tailed fox. Wondering why he was in the confines of his mind he wondered down the hall way until he was in front of the familiar gate ready to begin his usual talk with Kuuybi...only the gate was open.

Naruto stared in horror as he walked up to the gate to examine it. On one side the talisman that said 'seal' was still there but the gate was wide open! Slowly he walked into the large chamber that held the Nine tailed fox but it was nowhere to be seen as he walked through the large room looking from side to side then he felt 'IT'. 'IT' was a hot breath going down his neck that smelled of death and felt of anger, malice and darkness. He turned around to find nothing there. "Where are you-you stupid fox stop playing games with me!" Naruto yelled out of fear.

The air in front of him slowly started to churn as red Chakra began to gather in one spot. The ball of Chakra began to slowly rise into the air forming a fox head, the eyes slowly lowering to naruto as red chakra began to mass at it's base. The body of Kuuybi began to appear out of the chakra it's red fur glowing with it's demonic chakra. "**Here I am kit"**the Kuuybi said with a strangely evil grin as it watched Naruto cower in fear. Slowly Kuuybi stalked around then disappeared, Naruto looked around frantically searching for the giant fox as he was alerted to a presence behind him. Slowly he turned around a found himself staring at a pair of large...sharp...pointed fangs. He nearly jumped out of his skin as he jumped back from the menacing pair of fangs. There was a deep rumbling form the fox that sounded almost as if...as if it were laughing at him!

Kuuybi reared his head back as it laughed at Naruto. It's laughing died as it brought it's stare back down on him. **"So kit do you know why I summoned you here?" **he asked his demonic smirk never leaving his face. Naruto still recovering from the shock of a near heart attack shock his head no slowly.** "There is a very trying time ahead for you...and me."**adding the last part as if to emphasize his dislike of the situation. **"Kit do you know what happens when you mix hot water and warm water?"** Naruto was wondering what in the world that had too do with being what was going on but thought it best to answer seeing as there was a giant demon fox in front of him. "Huh?.. you get warm water but what does that have to do with anything!" Naruto yelled to the giant demon fox in front of him.

"**I'll get to that in due time, but first there are some things you need to know the first of which being the story of your heritage and how I came to be inside you. About fourteen years ago I attacked this village for certain reasons and I was stopped by the strongest ninja in here at the time, he was the Yondmine . ** "Yeah so everybody knows that!" Naruto interrupted the fox.

"**DO NOT INTERRUPT KIT!" **yelled Kuuybi making Naruto cower in fear. **"Now as I was saying your father was a very powerful ninja"**. He paused so he could let Naruto absorb all the information. "My...my...my father?" **Yes kit, your father. When I attacked the village it was not of my own choice. I was summoned here and placed under a binding justu that didn't quite work and I lost control of myself... in my rage and flattened everything until I came to your village. I began attacking it killing many humans revaluing in the destruction I caused and at the pitiful ninja who tried to stop me with there weak attacks.**

**There was a loud stomp as I turned around to find myself staring at a giant toad with a human on top of it's head. The human began making hand signs, hand signs that I didn't recognize were a powerful sealing jutsu... the rest is history."**said the fox as if it was nothing important. Naruto sat on the ground confused. "But why, why did he seal you in me why?" **"Ah I was hoping you would ask that, you see you father needed a new born life to seal me to seeing how as you were the only one born that day he had no choice for if he had tried to **

**seal me in any other person the seal would have not lasted more than a day or two at most and that would have not done any good at all". **Said the fox as he paced about in circles around Naruto

"**The seal that he used cost him his life and left you with some special traits as you are about to learn.** **After the shock of realizing I had been sealed into a child I became even more angry but that anger died after the first few months. Your father was the only being I have ever deemed worthy of my respect. So as a sort of...an honoring to him I will make sure you learn how to use and control your new abilities. That brings me to the point of my earlier question** **the mixing of water.** Said Kuuybi as he watched Naruto give a look as if asking what does that have to do with anything.

"**The seal that your father used not only sealed me to you it sealed our souls together. Think of your self as residual light and me as residual darkness if you mix the two together you get neutrality. **The foxed watched naruto as he look up at him with a lost look. "Huh?" **"You are a dense kit aren't you**."said the fox. **"To be blunt your soul is cold water mine is hot water when you mix the two together you get..." **he paused waiting for Naruto to fill in the blank. "Umm warm water but still what does that have to do with anything?" **"This is going to take a while"** said kuuybi to himself with a sigh, this kit was going to be the source of many headaches in the future he just knew it.

"**The seal that bond us together is now bonding our souls together so in effect I am now a part of you just as you are a part of me in other words you are turning into a nine tailed fox.** Naruto froze as the words from kuuybi hit him like a hammer. "I'm turning into a fox? He asked as he stared up at the grinning demon fox before him. **"In a way yes, you see because ours souls have fused you have gained some abilities as I said earlier. From now on you will have two forms in which you can appear, your human form and your fox form. In addition to this your senses will sharpen and your chakra limits will increase greatly, you will still be able to use my chakra whenever you please though**. He said with a bit of disdain. **Then there is the mind link meaning that you will be able to communicate with me whenever you please and vice versa**.

Naruto took note as the fox explained the things that would be happening soon. **"Soon with the next half moon you will change into your fox form for the first time , but be warned you will not have control over it at first so just ride it out. You will notice your senses sharpen and your chakra will slowly start to build up over the next three day by then it will be the half moon and you shall transform for the first time. When you transform you won't be as big as I am but you will be bigger than any normal fox.** The fox let out a stifled laugh as a thought ran through his head.

"**Hmm it would seem that I have in fact become part of your bloodline trait Kit. All the abilities that you now posses will also become your offsprings's as well but we talk more on that later now it is time for you to sleep Kit**" he said lower himself till he was laying at Naruto's side. Naruto soon fell asleep against the giant foxes side as one of the many tail slowly came up to cover him like a blanket. Kuuybi looked down at the sleeping boy wondering why he had just did that in his mind he thought**. "For a human this kit is strong but then again he not really all that human anymore is he heh heh heh**" he laid his head down and fell into sleep.

It was a strange scene, a boy lay sleeping against a giant nine tailed fox

one of it tails covering him like a blanket while the fox lay sleep.

The morning rays of the sun passed through Naruto's window as he lay still sleeping on his bed. Deep inside his mind his 'guest' had already awaken some time ago. **"Wake up kit you have much to do today"** he yelled at his would be container from within the confines of his mind. Slowly Naruto rose out of bed feeling as if the world had crashed down on him. He then began to recall last night wondering if it was all a dream **"it was no dream kit"** came the voice of kuuybi

in his head causing him to jump out of the bed and land fac first on the floor. **'This** **is going to be a long day**' thought kuuybi as he shook his head inside his would be container. After picking himself up off the floor Naruto began his daily morning routine, brush teeth, get dressed, eat ramen, suffer abuse from town's people, train, eat more ramen, go home try to sleep.

It was about then that he realized that the fox had just talked to him not more than a minute ago and suddenly as if it were a flash back the events of last night played through his head. Then for the first time in history Naruto Uzimaki heir to the Yondmine container of the Kuuybi and future nine tailed fox fainted and fell to the ground with a very audible thump.

Outside the hidden village of Konhana a group of sound ninja were planning there attack. They had received orders from Orochimaru himself before they had left the sound village. "So our orders are to capture the heir to the Hyuuga clan, the Copy ninja with the sharingan in his right eye and possibly if we can the Nine-tailed fox. We will move in two day after we are sure our presence has not been detected."the one that was obviously the leader said as he his dark frame seemed to float over to the area where the rest of the sound ninja were gathered. "We will first attack the copy ninja. After he is disabled we will move to the Hyuuga compound and make our assault only then if we have a chance will we go after the Nine tailed fox, but remember that he will most likely be protected by the ANBU black Ops and it will be no easy task to subdue him".

Unknown to the sound ninja to shapes were watching them from a tree about 50 feet away. "Think we should go ahead and take them out?" said on figure. "Nah, we'll use this as a test for them to see how good they are"said the other. With that they disappeared without so much as a flicker. "Soon Naruto soon we shall see if you are worthy of the name Uzumaki".

Naruto was going about his training off in the forest, after he had gotten over the initial shock of things with some help from Kuuybi he had started his morning routine and he was now hammering away at invisible opponents. "Okay now lets try this again" he said summoning up his chakra to his right hand. Slowly the chakra began whirling until it began to condense into a ball. He then began to focus his on the whirling chakra in his left hand willing it to become a sphere like the one in his right hand. After about five minutes with no success he gave up and dropped his left, the chakra dispersing as he did so. Looking back at the Rasegan in his right hand he concentrated on the large boulder that stood in front of him. 'Now in vison a strong opponent' he thought as he stared at the swirling ball of chakra in his hand. He looked back to the rock an in an instant he saw his opponent materialize where the rock was...it was Sasuke. He

ran at the imaginary image of his once friend and aimed the Rasegan straight at it's chest but at the last second he diverted his attack. The rasegan struck the ground and exploded with the force of a bomb.

He looked up at the rock after crawling out of the crater that his attack had made. In his mind's eye he could see what would have actually happened had the battle been real, he saw himself and Sasuke rushing at each other and just as he diverted his attack he would have bee struck through the chest with Chidori. He looked back at the crater and then the rock. It had been a long day for him today. He had skipped most of his daily routine and had come straight out to the forest surrounding the village to train. It was about midway when he began walking away thinking about something when he noticed he wasn't in the forest any more instead he stood in front of the large open gate in his head.

"**HAHAHA! Still can't do it I see". **Laughed the Demon as it's red eyes and huge demonic grin appeared just beyond the open doors of the gate. Naruto for the second time in that week nearly jumped out of his skin from the shock of seeing the gates open and from the shock of being within killing distance of Kuuybi. Seeing this the giant demon fox again let out another strangely scary laugh. Naruto who was now recovered from his near heart attack looked at the grinning demon and started shouting.

"You stupid fox! You scared the hell out of me, and what's with bringing me down here when I was in the middle of thinking about something!" **"So I see you still can't bring your self to kill the Uchiha boy."**said the fox as he stared at Naruto. Naruto put his head down at that admission. It was true he couldn't bring himself to kill Sasuke even though the feeling wasn't mutual. **"You won't be able to kill now, you should wait for your powers to manifest."**

Naruto just grumbled in response. In truth he was still thinking about what the fox had said to him earlier about not being able to kill Sasuke. No matter how hard he tried he just couldn't bring himself to kill one who he consider a friend...no more than that a brother. Even if the feeling wasn't mutual. The fox looked up for a moment as if it were looking out of a window. It held back a laugh as it saw an opportune moment to mess with his host. He grinned manically. **"Tell me kit what were you thinking about hat was so important.? It wouldn't have happened to be that Hyuuga girl would it? Asked the fox whose grin seemed to have grown about twice it's size.**

"What Hyuuga girl?" said Naruto. **"The one that is about to tap you on your shoulder right now I think her name is... Hinata?" Said the fox with a twisted grin. **"What!" Naruto found himself in the forest once again sitting against a tree as he felt a slight tapping on his shoulder. 'I am going to kill you ' he thought at the fox who if could be seen at the time was rolling around in laughter.

"N-Naruto-kun? Hinata asked as she tap his shoulder again. "Oh hi Hinata he said as he got up.

"Sorry I was kinda sleep I guess he said with his famous smile. Hinata blushed as he looked at her moving her head down to avoid eye contact. Naruto looked down at her hand and noticed that she was carrying a basket, it was then that his stomach reminded his that he hadn't ate that morning with a loud growl. Naruto blushed as he held his stomach and slid down against the tree's trunk. Hinata who was a bit surprised to say the least at the source of the nose gently held

out her hand with the basket and asked timidly "N-naruto-kun W-would you-u like to share m-my lunch with m-me? "That would be awesome Hinata" he said as he stood up with a very large smile on his face.

Hinata could only blush as he moved over to make room against the tree trunk. She had to fight to stay unconscious as the blood rushed to her head. Hinata opened her basket and took out some sandwiches she handed one for Naruto and she kept one for herself. Naruto wasted no time as he took a bite out of the sandwich and froze.

Hinata looked at him with her head down 'He doesn't like it' she thought sadly as she looked at Naruto who had tear running down his face. "This is the best sand which I've ever eaten! He yelled at the top of his lungs causing hinata to blush and look down while playing with her fingers. "R-really?" she asked daring to bring her eyes upon her secret crush.

"Yeah there great" he said taking another rather large bit of the sandwich. From there on they continued to eat in silence until Naruto brought his head up to look around ,as if he had heard something... "Hinata-chan did you hear something? He asked. Hinata having heard nothing looked around. "I-I didn't hear a-anything N-naruto-kun" she said as she try to make eye contact with him falling miserably. "Oh okay he said as he went back to eating. Unknown to Naruto he had indeed heard something, with his senses beginning to sharpen had he payed more attention he would have heard the sound ninja that was watching them leave.

"So the fox and the Hyuuga seem to be quite close, I must report this to the commander." said the sound ninja as he jumped through the trees. He made his way back to the sound ninja camp which happened to be by the large waterfall where Jiraiya had trained Naruto, cleverly hidden by

a strong genjutsu. Looking around to see if the area was clear he enter the cave behind the waterfall. "Commander I have news that may serve to put us in favor of success..."

Naruto stretched himself out as he leaned against the tree, he would definitely have to ask hinata to share her lunch with him again one day. He sighed as he looked toward the sky and then towards Hinata who was currently napping against the tree, well actually she passed out when Naruto hugged her for sharing her lunch with him. He let his eye wander over her frame. She had grown into quite the lovely young lady, she had grown her hair out and had filled into her figure quite nicely it was a wonder to him why she was still single she had all the right curves in all the right areas.

In the two years that he had trained with Jiriya he had missed her for some reason he didn't quite understand, sure he had missed his other friends but he missed her...differently. She was one of the only people who actually treated him like a real person instead of a demon which most of the village saw him as, he had come too see her as a close friend without even noticing

it.

"**So the young kit has started looking at girls eh? My they grow up so fast"**came the

snickering voice from his head. "What's that suppose to mean?"Naruto asked angrily to the fox

but missing the underlying insinuation. **"Nothing oh nothing, so tell me kit is this your girl friend?."** I the fox could be seen he would have surly have had a large grin on his face. "What!? Hinata is not my girlfriend She is just a friend and that's it!" from inside his head came the unmistakable laugh of the fox.

"**Do you like her?"asked the fox**. "What kind of question is that of course I like her." **"She seems quite attached to you kit. She is one who has treated you differently from the other, treasure her as she is a but a moon flower that will soon blossom. One that will not wilt when the harsh daylight of truth beams down. For you are as the light of the moon to her"**. with that said the fox retreated into Naruto mind leaving Naruto clueless before he could ask any questions.

'**If he is anything like his father he'll figure it out in time' thought the Kuuybi as he laid down for a fox-nap.** Naruto was indeed confused partly because of the cryptic message Kuuybi had given to him and partly because of the question he had asked earlier. Sure he liked hinata but it wasn't like he was her boyfriend...but he found he didn't find the idea a bad thing. "Damn fox leaving cryptic messages" he said turning his head to her as she slept in peaceful bliss. Little did he know that the seeds of love had been planted within his heart and with some help for a certain nine-tailed farmer they would soon blossom into some thing beautiful.

Unbeknownst he and Hinata both were being watched by the same two figures from before. "So that's the kid huh"said the figure hanging upside down from a tree branch. "Yep that's Arashi's kid alright, looks just like him when he was little"said the one crouching on the branch next to him. "Two days now till he transforms so let lay low and watch". Said the upside down figure. "I agree let let what happens happen"said the other as he turned to face the other. Besides I don't think that we the **Arutimetto Batousai**(1) need to make our appearance just yet eh brother?"said the figure on the branch. "Agreed."he said as he flipped up onto the branch to stand next to his brother. The Arutimetto Batousai looked out at Naruto. 'Soon Naruto soon'

(1) Arutimetto Batousai Ultimate manslayers

This is Lightning Master Zero so how did you guys like it? Drop a review please don't without expecting a flame back, kay? I do except constructive criticism though so let me know what you think


	2. To become a Fox

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

sorry to keep yall waitn but school is a well a bitch and I got other stuff I have to do. so now ladies, gentlemen and Sarah... I present the next chapter of to become a fox

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To become a Fox: Part Two

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Naruto stood atop a tree the light breeze playing through his hair, his eyes slowly focusing in on the semi bright sphere. He was looking towards the moon now visible against the painted sunset sky, it was almost half full. 'So it will be tomorrow night then' he thought. Today had been interesting he thought with a smirk. He had stayed with Hinata all afternoon while she slept. When she awoke she was surprised to find that the sun was almost setting. After that she had left in a hurry saying something about her father being furious if she missed dinner. Naruto had walked with her to the boundaries of the Hyuuga compound seeing her in after that he had left.

"**Tomorrow is the night Kit, the night of your first transformation so there are some things you need to know."**said Kyuubi through the mind link shaking naruto fro his revere. **"First of all when you transform you will not have control of yourself..." **"What do you mean I won't have control of myself!?" Naruto interrupted. In side his mind the fox was hitting his head on the bars of the seal, things would be so much easier if this kit would shut up and listen so taking a deep breath he yelled as loud a he could... **"SHUT UP!"**roared the fox so loud that Naruto lost his balance and fell off the tree hitting his head very hard...effectively and completely knocking him out.

Naruto woke up with a killer headache and he felt like he had stood next to a fire alarm because his ear wouldn't stop ringing and what's worse he had fell onto something soft, furry and...glowing red?...'Oh crap'. He looked up to see that he was on top of one Kyuubi's many tails. And the fox did not look to happy, also Naruto thought he imagined it but ht thought he saw a large knot of the fox's head but why would there be a knot of the head of the Almighty Kuuybi right?

"**Nice going kit you knocked yourself out**!"yelled the angry fox demon. Naruto opened his mouth to retort but before he could say anything the fox stopped him. **"As I was saying when you transform you won't have control over yourself...at least not full control". **Naruto taking the silence from the fox as the okay for him to ask question asked in confusion. "What do you mean at least not full control?"

"**When you first transform you will be swamped with power, so much your mind will revert back on to it's basic primal fox ways.** Seeing the look on Naruto face the fox thought it be better if he explained a bit more.** You will be able to recognize everything but your mind will lack coherent thought. You'll still be able to recognize the people in your life so don't worry about hurting them." **A wave of relief washed over Naruto after the fox had said those words. **"But you will see them in a more animalistic way sort of like...a pack. Other than this you should be alright."**

"**But I caution you kit, make sure there is no one around so when you transform no one will see you. The sight of you in your fox form would not have good results. **Naruto shook his head in agreement at that part as he imagined the village in panic. **Also when you transform I will not be able to talk to you. **A look of worry came over Naruto's face

**Don't worry though this all only happens during first transformation after this you'll be able to transform at will and will have all your wits about you."**concluded Kyuubi with that Naruto found himself upside down at a strange angle then he remembered he fell out of a tree. It was now just after sunset so he made his way home. Ten bowels of ramen later he was in bed sleep oblivious to the insidious plot that was being schemed around him.

Inside of the cave the sound ninja were making there final preparation for tomorrow night's raid the commander, an elite sound Jounin rose out of the shadows as his countenance was made visible to the rest of the ninja. Slowly he went over the plan with the rest of the ninja. "First squad A will capture the Hyuuga heir while Squads C and D cause four large scale explosions alerting the village to the attack this will draw out the villages defense Ninja. Squad B will then move out from the vantage point and locate the Copy ninja with the assistance of Squad D." Turning to his men he focused in on them.

"Use extreme caution and when in battle with him avoid looking into his eyes. It is most likely that the copy Ninja won't be alone so be prepared. There may be two crucial factors in this plan though. Two of the Sannin inhabit Konoha one is the Hokage and should be easily spotted the other is an old man with long white hair that wear green and red. If you encounter either one of these Sannin Squads B and D will retreat at all costs we are no match from them. In addition to this I have received information that the nine-tailed fox in quite close to the Hyuuga heir and there is a slight chance she may or may not be within the company of the nine-tailed fox so we will adjust the plan accordingly... Squad C will assist Squad A only if needed in her capture."spoke the voice of the elite as he paced between his men.

"Only after the first two objectives have been achieved should we attempt to go after the nine tailed fox. Capturing the nine-tailed fox is not crucial to this raid and can be accomplished at a later time but it would greatly be in our advantage if we were to capture it. Be warned the fox will be no easy objective to capture especially if he is in the company of the hyuuga heir. If that is the case and he proves to be too strong retreat immediately regardless of whether the first objectives have been accomplished or not we can not risk Konoha finding out about our plans."

Unknown to them two ANBU guards stood in the bushes just outside the cave. "We have to report this the Hokage". With that they disappeared into the night. Not far from the two Anbu the Ariumetto Batousai watched from a distance. "The cards are set". "And the game is in motion". It was going to be one of those nights tomorrow.

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The morning sun light filtered through the window of Naruto's apartment abruptly putting an end to the peacefulness of his sleep. He sat up in bed opened his eyes and shut them as quick as he could. 'What the? Why is everything so freaking bright' he thought as he rubbed his eyes. **"Oh so I see our powers are manifesting quite well aren't they?"**asked the fox in a mocking tone. 

"**It would seem your senses have almost finished strengthening."** Ok now at least he knew why his eyes hurt like heck they were getting stronger and so he had to let them adjust to the light "Okay so how do I turn them off". After some explaining on the finer parts of sense control naruto made his way out of his apartment. He could tell this was going to be a interesting day indeed for when he first stepped outside it was like walking into a new world.

'Wow he thought as he walked out of his home and into the streets of Konoha. The smells the sound even the colors all seemed more vivid, it was amazing. He could smell the scent of the ramen even before he left his doorstep. Instead of his usual mad dash to the Ichiraku today naruto walked soaking up the colors sound and scent of Konoha as if he had never been there before.

Tsunade lay asleep on her desk up to her eyebrows in paper work today had not been her day. First she was woken up by her alarm clock much to the annoyance of the blonde Hokage seeing as she had a hangover and judging how far the clock flew through the wall. Then when she had gotten to her office the first thing that happened was Shizune criticizing her about her drinking habbits and taking away all alcoholics item in her office. Then there was the giant stack of paperwork sitting on her desk most of which were letters from village elders blaming Naruto for the failure of the take-down mission.

After debating whether or not to burn them into a pile of ashes with a fire jutsu she had fallen asleep and now she was about to be disrupted again as to ANBU poofed into existence in her office. Now when you are an ANBU black op you have to know three things. One you have to report directly to the Hokage. Two you never wake up Tsunade. Three you or your partner will have to wake up said Hokage and get punched very hard.

The two ANBU exchanged looks that said "I'm not doin it you do it" and "Hell no you must be out your mind if you think I'm doin it". So being the elite, the best Konoha had to offer they did what any ANBU member would do in a situation like this... they played rock-paper-scissors.

The morning peace of Konoha was shattered by the sound of an ANBU being punched through the wall of the Hokage's office.

Rubbing the sleep from her eye Tsunade rose to sitting position on her desk when she noticed the lone ANBU and the hole in the wall 'Note to self stop punching people through walls.'she thought as she massaged her temples. After looking at his partner blast through the wall the ANBU member thought it would be a good time to speak now.

"Hokage-sama we have discovered a large congregation of sound ninja stationed to attack tonight. There seem to be about four squads of twenty five." Tsunade's eyes sharpened.'Damn' thought Tsunade this was not good at all she hadn't expect a retaliation from the previous mission so soon. "I want all Jounin , ANBU black oops and upper level Chunin to meet in the War Room in one hour time is of the essence."

"Hai Hokage-sama" as the ANBU turned to leave he was stopped by a question from Tsunade. "Did you over hear there plan's?" "Yes there are involving the Hyuuga clan, Kakashi Hatakae and...the holder of Kyuubi. That was enough to send Tsunade into overdrive. "I want ALL Jounin and ANBU in my office double time NOW!". with a nod the ANBU disappeared in a poof of smoke. Tsunade looked out of her window in the office the sun was high in the sky a slight rainbow surrounding it.

' Naruto'.she though as she turned to look at the picture of the Yondiame. 'Arashi your child has grown strong he'll make a great Hokage someday.'

* * *

While all this had happened Naruto. Had finished his twelve bowls of ramen in record time and was off practicing again getting use to his new abilities and chakra store. "Alright let's tries this again." said naruto as he threw a shuriken in front of him, running about three feet behind it he went through a number of hand seals ending with a yell of "Shuriken shadow clone jutsu!" The jutsu worked like a charm but Naruto didn't take into account his increased chakra store and ended up putting to much into it, the shuriken split it to hundreds of copy then thousands and blanketed the tree he had aimed at till the point where it looked like it had been painted black. 

"Oops." said Naruto as he sheepishly rubbed his head. In his mind the fox was once again hitting his head against the bars in the seal, he had explained this six times already.

**(Flashback)**

"**Kit remember you chakra stores had increased greatly so when you use jutsu it is essential that you use less effort or you may end up over power the jutsu or it could back fire and drain you of a large portion of your chakra."** "Okay sure". Said naruto as he began to form a Rasegan only to have it explode in his face leaving him cover in scorch marks and falling to the ground slowly in anime style "Oww.. that really hurt".

**(End Flashback)**

It was the sixth time he had done this today, made a jutsu and had it explode in his face. He almost set the forest on fire then almost flooded it trying to put it out. In short it had been a long six hours. **'And it's only noon.'** thought the fox as he lay his aching head down in the seal. But now he was turning his mind toward amother matter. **'Hmmm... I wonder if she's going to stand there all day is today the day when she will work up enough courage to talk to him' **though the fox as he noted that Hinata's chakra signature was in the area behind a tree with some bushes.

Over in said bushes behind said tree Hinata was watching in amazement she had watched Naruto all day while he pulled off jutsu that must have taken an incredible amount of chakra and yet he wasn't even breathing hard! After about three more hours of watching Hinata was starting to work up her courage but lost it when she noticed Naruto take off his shirt. Now she was fighting the battle to stay conscious as the blood rushed to her face.

"Okay let's try this one more time!" shouted Naruto as he pushed out both his hands and began to swirl chakra in them. As the chakra began to form into spheres it looked like everything was going good until... **"KIT!...WATCH THE CHAKRA IN-!BOOM put..."** the spheres exploded with the force of a bomb effectively leveling everything with in twenty yards and knocking Naruto out cold. "Naruto-kun!" hinata yelled from her vantage point as she made a mad dash to the blond's side and tried to wake him by shaking his shoulders but he was out like a light and down for the count. It was at that time that she realized not only was she next to him but that she was touching him too. So what did Hinata do? She did what any shy Hinata-like girl would. She fainted.

* * *

**Elsewhere**

All the Jounin and ANBU were getting restless they had been called here and reported at crisis level speed but the Hokage was missing. The tension was building in the room they all knew something big was happening to be called here at the same time as the all ANBU. Kakashi was deep in thought something big was up and he had the feeling it had something to do with Naruto he just knew it. There was a short pause as Tsunade entered the room all the Jounin ANBU and even a few here and there chunin looked to her.

"We have received information that Konoha is going to be attack within the next few hours so we are going to immediate red alert, but we must carry this out in stealth we don't want the villagers panicking that will give the enemy an advantage as well as cause unnecessary deaths. There are about one hundred sound ninja posted outside the village there are spilt into four squads. From what we gather this mission is to be a raid there targets are the heir of the Hyuuga clan, Kakashi Hakate and..." she paused mentally sighing for the oncoming onslaught of comments and yells.

"...Naruto Uzumaki". The room went quiet for a few second before hushed voices began to spread. Utters of "We should've killed the demon a long time ago" among other things could be heard. Tusnade's anger began to rise how stupid they were. "QUIET NOW!!... I don't care what issues you may have but you have two minutes to get over them or have you forgotten the law still in place by the third." that shut them up quick. "Now these squads are split into groups regarding their targets. we know that this mission will take place at night so I want the streets clear by seven." she said her tone serious

"We know that they are to target Hinata Hyuuga first knowing that the commotion will alert are ninja drawing out Kakashi. We know that only after this will they try to capture Naruto. We will counteract this plan while it happens we can let them invade or village and think they can get away with it. We will rally our power and strike back!"yelled the female Hokage. "HAI HOKAGE-SAMA!" with that all the ninja in the room disappeared leaving tsunade and Shizune alone in the room. Glancing over at the clock tsunade sighed 'only a few more hours' she thought. "I need a drink."

"Now you know that won't help."quipped Jiraiya as he made his entrance through a window. I didn't think that orchimaru would mobilize a retaliation this quick after last time. But what ever he is planing it is big to be going after those three." he said as he trained his eyes on the clouds through the window. "What do you mean?" Tsunade replied not knowing where this was headed.

"Think about it the hyuuga heir and Kakashi. What would orchimaru gain from them." Tsunade's face was grim as she knew the answer 'Sharingan and Byakugan'. But what about naruto where did he come into play with this? "What about naruto we know Akatsuki is after the Kyuubi but orochimaru wants to capture naruto now too something just isn't right here and I want to know what it is".

* * *

The sun was just beginning to set and out in the training area two people were just now waking. As naruto was slowly coming back to the world of the waking he tried to rise off the ground but was met with some difficulty as he felt he was being pinned down. Slowly his hands came up to grasp something soft ,warm and... smelled like lavender? 'What the?' he opened his eyes and was greeted with the sight of long black hair'huh Hinata?'. Now Hinata was off some where in la-la land. 

In her dream she was laying atop Naruto cuddling him so it was natural that when he pulled away to sit up she cuddle even more into his chest. Naruto was now starting to blush as the girl began to cuddle him but he was also getting a good look at her. This was the first time he had been this close to Hinata and while he looked at her he slowly taking beauty in 'Wow Hinata is pretty...'.he thought.

As the moon came out from behind the clouds she seemed to light up with an ethereal glow illuminating her face and making her hair shine with silver light. As she began to stir she opened her eyes bringing them up to look at him coupled with the moonlight she looked like a goddess to Naruto the word pretty just did do her justice.

He was barely aware as he said one simple word dazedly "Beautiful...". Hinata's face lit up in a blush that Naruto could only described as cute. Now that she was awake the full impact of what was happening came down on Hinata like a ton of bricks, she was laying on top of a bare chested Naruto who had just called her beautiful so that meant that her dream was... Hinata did the only thing she could think of... she fainted ...again.

Naruto was confused why did she just faint like that? Did something happen to her? Was it him? Oh well he thought as he gently moved hinata off of him she sure was beautiful in this moonlight...wait moonlight! His eyes shot up towards the sky and sure enough the moon was out. 'Oh no' he thought he would start to transform soon. His thoughts flew toward Hinata he had better get her home and quick he didn't want her to see him transform. He moved over to her prone form and gently began shaking her.

It took a little while but she finally opened her eyes. "Nar..uto-kun...?" she uttered as the blonde looked down on her and smiled "Hey Hinata chan it's getting late maybe we should head back to the village now." Hinata could only nod her head. The walk back through the forest towards the village was quiet the only sound was the rustling of the leaves as they swirled through the cool night air. Hinata almost couldn't walk straight as her mind kept shooting back to her cuddling Naruto and then to him calling her beautiful her face seemed to be almost glowing red.

Unbeknownst to her Naruto was going through the same ordeal and was sporting his own blush albeit smaller each wanted to say something to end this cursed silence but neither could bring them selves to form words with there mouths. As they keep walking the village came into sight lightening the mood a bit as Naruto looked toward the moon again 'Only a little longer'. If only Naruto knew that he and Hinata were walking into a trap.

* * *

The village streets were quiet and deserted if one could see it they might be able to catch a shadow streak across on of the roof tops. "This squad A leader we have the Heir and the fox in our sights we will wait for the signal and then strike". Said the squad leader into the headcom. The voice of the Elite was heard over all head sets. "Now let operation Leaf Blower commence!" as soon as that was said all sound ninja began to move into position not knowing that they were being watched by a group of Jounin and ANBU opposite of them. 

Kakashi looked down at the two walking the barren streets of Konoha "Damn it this just got a whole lot more complicated."he said under his breath. And they were about to get worse. A huge explosion rocked the ground and almost immediately after Ninja could be seen rushing to the area.

Streaking across the roof tops an squad of ANBU rushed to the scene of the explosion"We have to stop them before they get the chance to sett of anymore bombs!" yelled the Jounin as he began to engage with the sound ninja the clang of kunai sounded through the village as the battle began. "Commander we've been ambushed" shouted the squad leader into his head set. "Squads B and D Engage the enemy Squads A and C continue with the mission."

Naruto had no clue what was happening one second he was walking next to Hinata the next he was in the middle of a full scale battle engaging a sound ninja with Hinata being engaged in battle herself but now wasn't the time to think about that as he rushed his opponent with his kunai ducking and weaving as the blades crashed and sparks showered the area. He ducked a fist and jumped over a kick only to be met with two more sound ninja on each of his sides bringing up his total number of opponents to three.

This wasn't going to be easy or so he thought as one of the sound ninja dropped revealing Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei"! he yelled as he turned his attention to the copy ninja just missing a blow to the head. Naruto and Kakashi were back to back now "Naruto listen carefully I want you to take Hinata and get out of here quick." said Kakashi as he uncovered his sharingan. "But what's going on. He asked as he counter a punch being thrown from one of the opposing ninja.

"This is a raid there target are you me and Hinata."said Kakashi deflecting a barrage of shuriken. All across the village the sound of battle rang out through the night air as Chunin, Jounin and ANBU rose to tackle the threat to there village. The ground shock as another explosion went off. Jutsu flew through the air as the battle began escalating. If one could see it from the sky they would notice the different section of the battle moving in towards the middle of the village beginning to converge on one spot.

By now there were too many sound ninja for Naruto to escape with Hinata for everyone he killed two more popped up. He could feel the demon chakra in him starting to grow as he fought these were high level opponents and he didn't think that he'd be able to last much longer without drawing on the Kyuubi's chakra.

Hinata was having a bit of trouble herself she had never fought such high level opponents before and was having trouble just dogging there blows. While she did manage to get in a few Jyuuken strikes here and there it was obvious that she was starting to wear down playing right into the sound ninja hands. Hinata wasn't aware that she was being separated from Naruto and Kakashi as she continued to fight with all her heart.

Naruto and Kakashi had managed to get most of the opposing force in the area on one side but Kakashi was surrounded... that's when an idea struck Naruto. "Kakashi sensei get down!" he yelled as he pulled out five shuriken throwing them in the air going through some hand seals that Kakashi recognized. "shuriken shadow clone jutsu"

Kakashi dropped to the ground as a barrage of shuriken flew over him and straight into the sound ninja that tried in vain to block the ridiculous amount of shuriken that flew at them killing all in there way. As the bodies of the sound ninja dropped kakashi was wide Kakashi was shocked he had just seen naruto use a technique that was hokage level 'the shear amount of shuriken that he created must have took an extremely large amount of chakra it a wonder he's even standing!'.

The attack had taken out a large potion of the enemy in the are allowing for a brief few seconds for naruto to look around only to notice that hinata was over powered. 'Hinata!' he thought as he tried to reach her. Hinata was beginning to slow mow faced with so many opponents. Seeing this the sound commander saw this as a chance and leaped into battle with her.

"Keep the fox and the copy ninja busy while I take the heir then retreat we can not at this time take the copy ninja or the fox so we will return at a later time." yelled the Elite. Hinata heard the words but was confused there was no fox around here but the sound elite was clearly looking at Naruto as he said the word fox. Could this be some sort of nickname for him from orochimaru? It didn't matter she thought as she prepared to fight the sound elite."I won't let you hurt Naruto-kun!" shouted Hinata as she took her Jyuuken stance all her tiredness disappearing she would not let them hurt HER Naruto-kun! with a battle roar she rushed straight at the Elite ninja.

For the sound elite he thought this would be an easy knock down and take away but this girl wouldn't give 'This makes no sense the hyuuga heir is supposed to be only a Chunin level but this girl fights like a demon! If I don't end this soon she may manage to land a blow with the style of hers.' Hinata pushed her chakra through her hand as it flew to towards his chest only to hit a log and have appear him on her side striking at her shoulder with a kunai she just barley dodged as it lightly grazed her arm.

Hinata winced as the cut started to draw some blood, seeing this as his chance the sound ninja came at her head with a kick. Time slowed down as Hinata saw the foot lunging toward her it was too late to dodge it she only had one chance left and she hoped it worked. Pushing chakra throughout her body she began to whirl as fast as she could "Kaiten!"she yelled as the wave of spinning chakra sent the sound elite flying backward into a wall. Hinata let go of a breath she didn't know she was holding all those hours of training had paid off after all.

The sound elite began to rise, he defiantly was not happy "So it would seem that your are quite strong quite the contrary of what our reports say. I didn't think I would have to use this... at least not on you but we have a schedule to keep and Orochimaru-sama would be quite displeased with me if I didn't bring back at least one objective and I can't have that happen... no that wouldn't be good at all." he said in a sinister tone Hinata got ready for the worst but something was wrong with her vison it look as if the sound elite was shaking...no not shaking vibrating. There was now a dull ringing in hinata left ear that was growing beginning to cause head splitting pain. She dropped to one knee as the sound elite non-chalantly walked over to here.

"This is a very special jutsu allow me to explain, the vest that I am wearing emits a very high hyper sonic frequency. Normally this wouldn't be able to be heard by humans but the sound wave have been altered in affect specifically for human ears. The sound wave is focusing on the parts of your ear the control pressure in your head." He said as Hinata began to weakly rise from her knee.

"Your ear normal release this pressure through special tube but this jutsu stops that from happening causing the pressure to build in your ears to build creating the feeling of your head about to explode." lunging at her he punched her straight in the stomach. Hinata felt like her body was being shaken apart as hi fist drew back she dropped onto her knees holding her mid section.

"Almost forgot about the second part oh well you just felt it. The while the vest emits high frequency sound tuned for your ears my body is emitting a very low frequency so low that it interferes with the human body's natural frequency in effect shaking you apart molecule by molecule causing extreme pain". Hinata was trying to stand up but the pressure was to much she blacked out 'Na..ruto...kun'. Hinata hit the ground.

* * *

Naruto was fighting his way through the sound ninja but they kept coming he was starting to wear down he was getting angry and that anger hit boiling point when he saw Hinata hit the ground "Hinata!" he yelled as red chakra began to boil out of his skin his whisker mark growing bolder and darker. He wheeled around to the sound ninja in front of him red eyes blazing rasegan in hand...those poor sound ninja. 

Naruto literally tore through them like paper the last one being the unfortunate soul that received the rasegan by now Naruto was glowing with red chakra as he ran toward the sound elite the had Hinata hoisted over his shoulder. The sound elite could feel the boy's chakra as he approached. 'So this is the power of the kyuubi it's incredible and from what we now I think it'd be in our best interest to retreat now.' "All forces pull back to me we have the heir we cannot at this time capture the copy or the fox." he said as he jumped onto the roof of a building.

All across Konoha the sound ninja began to move toward the area where the commander was. Just as Naruto was about to leap into the air the commander pulled a kunai and placed it at Hinata's throat. "You might not want to do that fox or else your friend here won't come out so well". Naruto froze to the spot he had to find some way to get to Hinata.

The sound elite laughed as about twenty sound ninja appeared behind him "so the famous kyuubi is afraid we'll hurt his girlfriend what pathetic excuse for a demon fox!" he cackled as the moon the moon hit the highest point in the sky and the wind began to howl.

'Stop right there shouted a lone ANBU as he appeared on the roof across from the group of sound ninja. By this time a few ninja were just coming into view in the distance. It was no surprise that it was Asuma, Kurenai and Guy were the first on the scene. Naruto paid no attention to the new arrivals as only one thing was on his mind saving Hinata. The wind was now howling like a twister as the red chakra began to increasingly notice able.

All attention was starting to draw to the boy as his back arched, his head drew down and he began to growl his the chakra taking the shape of a fox. A chakra tail had already become visible from his aura but it didn't stop there in the next thirty seconds two more chakra tails had grown out. The shear amount of killer intent he was putting out had frozen all in the area. 'This boy what is he?!' thought the sound elite as he tried to stay in control of his fear. Naruto could smell it... the fear he could feel coming off sound elite.

The growling was getting louder almost yelling. Naruto raised his head and stared straight into the eyes of the sound elite a fourth chakra tail erupting out of the aura. 'Those eye some much anger so much malice so much...bloodlust! This is no boy this a demon!' he was vaguely aware that he was shaking as he still had Hinata hoisted on his shoulder. Kakashi watched on with eyes wide through his sharingan he could see Naruto's chakra still building'This is not good Naruto what is happening to you?'.

Just when everything was as bad as it could get the unthinkable happened a fifth tail shot out of the aura and there was a large out burst of chakra that knocked everyone on the ground off their feet. So much chakra was coming out of naruto now that it had form an red opaque dome over him only the chakra tails were visible now. With all the enemy forces gone the ninja of konoha turned there attention the are where an extremely large chakra presence could be felt. All of naruto friends had gathered in and were rushing towards the area. Tsunade and Jirya were also heading towards it each thinking only one thing 'Naruto please be alright'.

The dome of chakra fluxed and a sixth tail popped out then a seventh then a eight. The ground began to crumble away as th chakra was now forcibly weighing no only it down but the people I the general area as well as Gai, Kakashi Kurenai and Asuma had trouble standing. Then the ninth and final tail shoot forward out of the doom. By this time ANBU began to arrive and prepare for the worst. Even the Arumitteo Batousai had taken an interest in this as they watched form there perch on the fourth Hokage's head. "Well I don't think Arashi expected this to happen when he sealed the fox inside the kid". "Yeah things just got a lot more interesting".

* * *

**Cue: Avenger OSTIII**

The wind was swirling now as the chakra tails were waving back and forth slowly. The chakra began to slowly condense taking form, the tails becoming more alive with each second. By now the opaque form of a fox had made it's self visible in the chakra as it started to roll off of it like a veil. If any of the jounin or ANBU could move before they couldn't now. The wind had died down now as the last bit of chakra blew away like a morning mist. The stood a nine-tailed fox in all it's glory crouched and ready to strike as it let out a feral growl towards the sound ninja.

A red chakra aura blazing as it's vibrant crimson fur seemed to flow in the breeze. It stood about five and a half feet at the shoulder muscles rippling and tensing under it's fur. It crimson eyes were locked and foucused. The shear amount of killer intent it was putting towards the sound ninja made one wet his pants while another began to bring a kunai to his hand and out of pure he threw it at the fox. It swatted the thing away like it was some sort of bug then it pounced.

* * *

This is LMZ droppin aanother chapter for this fine story I have the next chapter done already but suspense is good for ya! I want ten count'em ten reviews before I post it.(I know don't ya just love me?) 

I want 10 count em ten reviews before I post it or at least 100 more hits first. Just because I'm that evil.


	3. Hinata and the Fox

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Sorry to keep yall waitn computer blew up on me literally I came down stairs and it was on fire... Yeah so any way we got a new one took the old one to the shop and thanks to the computer geniuses (thank God for them) was able to recover most files from the old hard drive thank you God! Anyway onto reviews that were really good.

* * *

Headphone angel: thanks got it taken care of I think...post me if I don't

Sarah: here is the new chap hope you like!

Ochiteirutenshi: thank you the rant is much appreciated! I study the Japanese culture but the language is not my forte for the most part so any hep is much appreciated.

Gaara218: yes I know I am an evil little bastard aren't I?:)

Hikari the emo queen of OCCness: nice story it was good.

And last but certainly not least.

Pyr00tje: You can relax now your "To become a Fox" fix is here so you can stop throwing darts at the picture you imagined of me and you can stop plotting to kill me, blow up my house, delcare war on me, cause nuclear death to me etc. Anyway be good and I won't make you wait for the next chapter too long :) (A/N: Joking so don't kill me Pyr00tje please!) And now onto the story

* * *

To become a Fox: Part Three

Time seemed to stand still as the shrill roar of the fox echoed throughout the entire village of konoha causing all of the older generation ninja's blood run cold.. Inside the home of the villagers many where starting to panic that sound that.. roar. 

Tsunade and Jirya were sweating as they made a full about face from the direction they were going in as they felt the chakra from Naruto's transformation. 'Naruto what the hell is going on ...'

Back in the square time seemed to stand still as the fox leapt into the air straight at the sound Elite holding Hinata. The Sound Elite watched in fear as the distance gap began to close between him and the fox.

He could feel the hatred the malice the pure cold and utter bloodlust rolling off the fox. Fear began to consume him this was no boy THIS was not even a simple demon...THIS was death the cold reach of death grasping him and pulling him into the eternal darkness of oblivion.

His body began to go into self preservation mode out of pure fear he jumped away leaving his men, his mission and all the while forgetting that he held the key to his fate on his own shoulder. Th twenty sound ninja that stood there couldn't move paralyzed by fear some had managed out of pure desperation to will their bodies to follow there commander.

As the fox came to land on the roof the remaining Sound ninja scattered about the fox drawing any sort of weapon that they could shuriken, kunai, kama even one or two swords all few at the fox. The fox snarled as it took the time to look around...took the time to analyze who would die first as the weapons flew at it from all direction.

It's head turned toward the group of Jounin and the lone ANBU analyzing them it's primal mind whirling. Pack it though as it's keen eyes scanned them then to the Sound ninja surrounding it and the ones fleeing enemies. Lastly he looked to Hinata. Pack? No not pack something closer.

As the weapons closed distance the sound ninja seemed to gain back some or their spine no matter how strong this thing was there was no way that it would be able to come out of this barrage. As they watched the ever closing gap the fox disappeared and the weapons came together with th clang of metal.

On the ground all the senior Jounin watched with amazement what had happened. Where did it go!? "What the...? Where did it go!" screamed a Sound Jounin as he looked around for the fox only to drop dead as there came a sound of ripping flesh. He twisted as he fell to reveal the fox standing behind him right claw covered in blood.

Kakashi almost couldn't believe it. 'He moves so fast I just barley caught that with my sharingan.' he though his mind traveling to when the fox was surrounded by weapons. Though it may have seemed like it disappeared it didn't he caught it as it swivelled it's head toward them then to Ryoma on the roof top and finally to the ten Sound ninja surrounding it and the ten trying to flee. With an almost graceful swing it effortlessly glided it's was through the barrage of weaponry and behind the Sound ninja as if it was a dance.

'One down nine to go... make that six to go' thought Ryoma as the fox's jaws closed round the neck on a Sound ninja while it'claws eviscerated two more. Trying to take advantage of the fox's preoccupation the other six ninja rushed straight at it weapons at the ready and subsequently all six were crushed by the tails of the fox. Some how two managed to get up from the assault only to vaporized by a burst of red chakra from the fox as it set it's sights once again on the Sound Elite and his underlings trying to flee.

It opened it mouths ans a small sphere of chakra began to swirl there. Kakashi stared at it wide eyed "Rasegan!." True to it's name the sphere began to spin changing from a deep blue to a intense glowing purple . Taking aim the fox launched the sphere like a cannon, it flew straight in front of the moving Sound company exploding just in front of them halting their progress. As the smoke cleared they found themselves face to face with the fox once again and it was on the offensive.

* * *

Leaping at the first two on the right claws bared chakra flaring it disappeared only to reappear on there right tearing through them like paper as it's tails swiped away incoming kunai. While this was happening two more Sound had launched a sneak assault. All of a sudden the fox's feet sink into the roof of the building as a solid rock spire shot throughout the torso of the fox. 

Upon seeing the fox impaled the Sound Elite immediately let out a breath he didn't know he was holding... but something was wrong the fox was dead or soon would be yet he felt as if he was still standing on death's doorstep. There was a loud poof as the fox exploded into smoke 'A SHADOW CLONE!' thought the Elite as his head and the other eight zoomed around searching for the fox when they were alerted to the wall parallel to them.

Standing on the wall like a spider about fifteen feet above there heads posed and ready to strike as it looked down on them was the fox. It formed another rasegan and launched it at the eight sound ninja the resulting explosion took out all but two of the sound jounin which were somehow able to get away from the blast and immediately started to flee leaving the Elite by himself staring in fear as the fox slowly walked down the wall never taking it's eye off him.

Hinata shuffled a bit in his grasp. It was then that he was brought back to the fact that he carried the girl on his shoulder as she squirmed a bit beginning to show she was coming back to consciousness...Wait the girl! He could still save his life all he had to do was use the girl. As the fox was moving towards him he moved towards the edge of the building.

The fox was now in striking distance now it was time to enact his plan with out a second to spare he threw Hinata over the edge of the building and leap away in the opposite direction. The fox didn't even take the time look as it jumped off the building after Hinata. Maneuvering in the air so that she was on his back he gently wrapped two of his large bushy tails around her and pushed himself off of the wall they were so rapidly falling by.

Hinata was in that state that one enters between conscious and unconscious at first she felt as if she was being held by evil and darkness and now she felt as she was falling but there was something else she felt something familiar it made her feel warm and comfortable like everything would be alright. Hinata was starting to wake up now just barley but enough to see what was going on.

* * *

Now that he'd gotten Hinata the fox had one more matter of business to handle, as it landed on the roof it's eye focused in on it's target the three fleeing ninja it opened it's mouth and shot down the two sound jounin that had escaped earlier with Rasegan then disappeared. The sound Elite was running as fast as he could he had managed to clear five building without being taken by ANBU and their was no sign of the fox...or so he thought. Appearing out of nowhere stood the fox about ten feet in front of him the girl on his back. 

He looked eyes with the Elite for a seconds allowing the fear to seep back into his heart opened his mouth and began to form a Rasegan but this Rasegan was far more powerful than the others it was so strong that it glowed a dark blue as it took form. The whirling sphere of chakra kept growing it was now over triple the size of a regular Rasegan about the size of basketball all the while the fox kept his eyes lock with the Sound Elite, though it couldn't be heard the message was clear... He was going to kill him and there was nothing he could do about it. He could run and be hunted down he could try to fight and be massacred but either way he was going to die.

The Rasegan fired with so much force that when it hit the Elite it propelled him backward through the air over five building and straight into a wall where it promptly exploded. Now all was quiet the senior jounin stared at the scene in front of them in the last ten minutes they had seen a boy transform into a fox then take out twenty sound jounin recuse the heir of one of the most powerful families in the village and blast one sound elite into oblivion.

The killer intent from the fox died down as the chakra began to decrease in the area it's once slitted red eye now turned to a cool ocean blue as it hopped down from the building and walked toward the jounin stopping about fifteen feet from them. Hinata was now fully awake confused but awake it's not everyday you wake up on a giant red fox with nine tails. Looking back at the girl on his back the fox sat on his haunches allowing Hinata to effortlessly slid off his back.

Getting up again the fox turned to look at Hinata a bit before he muzzled her some. Hinata on her part didn't know what to make of the situation but smiled and blushed as she let the fox muzzle her then took a step back to look at it. To her he was beautiful crimson fur so vibrant it seemed alive nine tails swishing around slowly and an aura that made her feel safe and warm.

There was something familiar about the way this fox felt it seemed so close to him right down to the ocean blue eyes...so warm and... wait foxes don't have blue eyes and this indescribable feeling she only felt like this when she was around...wait no it couldn't be..."Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked in surprise as she looked wide eyed at the fox. Naruto looked at her blue eyes shining as they stared into her pale lavender/white eyes. Then in the next few moments things began to change.

* * *

There was the sound of kunai impacting with flesh and... pain he felt pain "Naruto-kun!" Hinata yelled. He looked to his side and saw ninja coming to the area from all directions they were staring at him in fear and hatred yelling things like "No it can't be" "It's the Kuuybi" "Kill the demon now!". His primal mind couldn't understand why he was being attacked so pulling the out the kunai in his side with his teeth he leapt up on top of a building. 

By now a small group of ninja and some villagers had made there way to the square among them were the rest of the Konoha 11. Naruto looked down at the crowd as more kunai and shuriken came flying at him. Pain why did they wish to cause him pain? His primal mind couldn't understand it confused and hurt he let out a pained roar and soared across the top of buildings with un paralleled speed straight towards the forest. Sakura ,Ino and the others were the first to reach the senior Jounin witnessing the fox skipping over the roof tops.

As soon as he saw them Kakashi gave a immediate order "All of you after that fox capture it but DO NOT injure it in any way or it will be your heads!". Taking a second to look at the path the fox had just went in they took off after it. Hinata watched as Naruto disappeared into the forest he was leaving and she felt something... coldness, fear of losing Naruto she didn't care if he was a fox or not she didn't want to lose him.

She dashed off right behind the others running as fast as she could. Tsunade and Jiraiya had just arrived in time to see the fox before it streaked into the forest and now it was time to get answers. Marching up to Kakashi she looked him Guy and the rest straight in the eyes "Answers NOW". So they began the arduous task of debriefing.

On the top of the highest building the Aruimetto Hitokiri looked on with a coolness that seem out of place considering what had just happened. "Interesting so it would seem that Naruto has transformed I wonder what will happen next."

"We'll worry about that later little brother tomorrow they will be attacked again but this time they know it, so let's give them a hand eh?" works for me." with that one disappeared as the image of a log floated in air for a second while the other jumped off the building and streaked across the roof tops with unparalleled speed invisible to the eyes of all.

"Okay split up into your teams!" yelled Shikamaru as they passed throughout the wood in blurs "Shino you come with me, Ino and Chouji your bugs will come in handy for tracking. Sakura your with kiba scent as troublesome as he is Naruto's not here try and track the fox's scent. Neji..." he didn't have to say more as Neji had already activated his Byakugan and had Lee and Tenten following. "Report back to this are when you found something if you don't find anything in 3 hours report back here so we can mobilize a larger search team".

"Hai!" Came the collective yell as each team split off in three different directions. Hinata had gotten a late start in following them so she was farther behind then the others and had no idea were they had gone off to. She jumped through the tree activating her byakugan searching for any sign that might give her a clue. In her near 360 degree range of vision she saw that each they had split up into three teams and were heading in opposite directions. Hinata had no clue where to go so she did the simplest thing one can do she followed her heart.

* * *

Neji ,Lee and Tenten jumped from tree to tree scanning, searching for any sign of the giant fox they had saw bringing up the questions. "Hey Lee what do you think that thing was back there anyway?" asked the weapons master as she recalled the recent event. "I do not know teammate but I think it may have been a fox of some kind."answered the Taijustu master. 

"Yeah but a fox with nine tails and the size of it... I've never seen a fox that big it was bigger than kiba's dog! If we do find it how are we going to catch it without harming it?".she asked as they move along the branches now leaving the village territory. "I do not know-"... he began "BUT THE FLAMES OF OUR YOUTH BURN STRONG AND WILL SEE US THROUGH!!!"shouted mini the Guy causing Tenten to sweat drop thought it couldn't be seen Neji to frown.

"We won't be catching this fox...at all it is likely that we may encounter it but capturing it with or without harming it is out of the picture and I believe you now why" he said without looking back Lee and Teten gravely nodded there heads. It was clear as day to the Hyuuga this fox whatever it was was strong REALLY strong considering how much chakra was coming off of it as it leap across the roofs in the village.

There might be a chance that they could capture it if it was Shikamaru's team that caught up with it first considering the Nara's ability to manipulate shadows but that hope was dashed as he caught something moving about a kilometer ahead of them...it was the fox. Tenten and Lee immediately noticed the hyuuga prodigy tense as they moved closer to him seeking info. " the fox is ahead of us by a half a mile now we will attack from three side in a tri-formation."

The fox had no clue it was being followed so it had stopped running and now looked out at the moon. Neji checked they were down wind of the target he signal lee who signaled Tetten everything was going to plan maybe they would be able to capture this thing after all thought Tenten with a smile. Unbeknownst to them the fox had already caught there scent and even before that had heard them following now it waited for them to pounce. The moon was temporally clouded over turning the small clearing into a dark chilling patch of forest.

Slowly they waited all of them waiting for the single moment that would decide their fate as the cloud began to pass the moon once again bathing the clearing in it's ethereal glow. The seconds ticked by like hours each growing longer and longer as the three Chunin moved slowly into positions around the fox each hoping each wishing each praying. A cricket chirped a spider struck a trap was sprung. POOF A puff of smoke was all that was left.

"What the Hell happened?!" said Tenten. "I do not know my comrade"said Guy jr. Neji couldn't believe it... it just wasn't possible it couldn't have be! "The fox tricked us it was a shadow clone" Neji said in his disheveled state Tenten and Lee turned there heads toward him "A shadow Clone?" they asked also disheveled by the experience they had been following a clone for kami knows how faraway form Konoha the mere thought made Tenten want to scream.

Neji had troubled believing it himself as he recalled the trap. They had sprung swiftly from there area's Tenten launching shuriken at the fox's feet while Neji and lee made a move with a double wire shuriken net effectively trapping the fox or so they thought as it disappeared in a puff of smoke. Neji survived his team Lee was say something or other about the flames of youth while Tenten was about to pull her hair out so being neji he took charge. Fate has delt us a foul hand let us hope the other fair better. With that said he motioned for his team mates to follow him as they began the long journey back to the rendevous point.

* * *

Elsewhere..."Kiba duck!"yelled Sakura as the fox's tail slammed into the tree where he was standing. Kiba had managed to duck just in time as the tail of the fox flew over his head. The fox turned it attention back to Akamaru now as the giant dog stood growling behind him. whipping one of it's tails about his muzzle he threw the giant dog down on the ground in front of Kiba. 

Sakura sighed this had been going on for quite sometime if was as if the fox was playing with them not really trying to hurt them. The fox stood looking at Kiba and Akamaru as they got up off the ground it's muzzle showing a full set of teeth that could have bee mistaken for a grin it eyes lighting up as if saying "Aww did you fall down?".

Iit was mocking him Kiba didn't know how but he knew it, this fox was mocking him. The strange thing was that whenever Sakura tried to fight it it would back away like she had the plague or something giving her a look of anger as it growled and snarled at her. 'This ends now!' thought Sakura as she focused her chakra into her hands.

She struck the ground like earthquake sending a tremor of jagged earth as the fox which disappeared into a puff of smoke on contact leaving Sakura flabbergasted and Kiba and Akamaru madder then they were before. "A SHADOW CLONE! WHAT THE HELL WAS THIS THING TAKING LESSONS FROM NARUTO! AND DAMN HIM WHERE IS HE ANYWAY! AAAAHHHH!!!!"yelled the frustrated dog boy. Akamaru walk over to him master and in that strange barking grunting began to talk to him. "Yeah yeah I smelled it too but there is no way Akamaru". Sakura turned her head from the immense crater she had just created looking at Kiba with a question look.

Kiba noticing the blank stare began to explain "Akamaru says the fox smelt like Naruto the whole time we were fighting. But I 'm saying that's impossible because Naruto isn't here the baka.". Sakura turned away she hadn't forgotten about the failed mission a few day earlier and the promise he mad the promise he didn't keep the promise she would not forgive him for. "Let go back." she said her voice dull with a hint of underlying anger that startled Kiba as she walked passed making him turn to Akamaru "Was it something I said?".

The fox jumped to the left to dodge the mass of rolling flesh that was Chouji's jutsu trying to run but being block by the extremely large swarm of destruction bugs landing right into a trap set by Shikamaru. "Got you" said the lazy Nara as he ensnared the fox in his Shadow Possession Jutsu. "Ino your on!" he yelled to the blonde girl as she made the hand signs for her trademark jutsu.

"Mind Transfer Jutsu". Everything was going smooth until then as soon as her mind made contact with the fox it was like turning on a cable less TV. The resound poof blew her back to her mind leaving everyone confused. "This is so troublesome."

* * *

It had been three hours since they all had left back in konoha Kakashi and the other jounin had just finished there report when the entire team appeared behind him. Tsunade was on the like flies to a kill. "Did you find the fox?!"she asked nearly running Sakura over. No sensei she said as she hung her head seeing this as a chance to explain Shikamaru step up and began to talk to the frantic hokage "the fox duped us" he said in his trademark lazy tone stifling a yawn. 

Tsunade looked at him a vain beginning to bulge in her head but before she could vent the anger Sakura stepped up to stop her sensei. "We split up into teams to try and track it but we only found clones" and she preceded to tell the rest of every one's encounters with the fox to Tsunade. As she finished Tsunade was rubbing her temples this was not good not good at all from what she heard from Kakashi Naruto had ran away when he had been attacked by the village ninja after saving hinata... wait Hinata...didn't she go with them where was she?...Oh no. Tsunade felt a headache coming on.

"Where is Hinata?" She asked receiving blank stares "No no no no that means she still out there chasing the fox" this caused Neji to jump into immediate action he was just about to turn around when the entire group found themselves surrounded by the entire ANBU black oops.

"Find the girl and the fox bring them back at all cost use of force is NOT authorized against the fox it's an ally REGARDLESS of what some of you might think. If harm comes to the fox the consequences will be harsh and carried out with the utmost of severity is that clear!."

"Hai Hokage-sama!" And then they were gonelike they were never there turning back to the group of Chunin before her she addressed them. "You all go home and get some rest that is an order especially you Neji. Don't worry I'll handle this Hinata will be fine I will talk with Hisahi momentarily.

There was an old saying that popped into Tsunade mind 'Speak of the devil and he will appear' for as soon as she finished that sentence no other than said clan leader appeared and he did not look happy at all. "Hokage-sama I have heard what has happened here and" he was cut off as Tsunade looked at him with a glare that could cut stone. "Meet me in my office in ten Minutes" she said to him. "You all are dismissed."

* * *

Five minutes later Hisashi stood in front of Tsunade's desk "What do you mean she went after the Kuuybi!" He yelled in rage as Tsunade narrowed her eyes "One you will restrain yourself Hisahi Hyuuga and two this fox is not a demon nor is it the kyuubi if anything you should be thanking it for rescuing not only your daughter but keeping your kekai genkai safe as well". 

"No harm will come to your daughter. No if you will excuse me I have work to do and must prepared for the next attack". She said all of this cooly whiles she stacked papers on her desk. Hisahi was more than anger now "We'll see what the village council has to say about this." He muttered as he walked out the door.

As soon as he was out Tsunade let her head hit the desk today was not her day and the icing on the cake, the cherry and whipped cream was that Naruto had transformed into some Giant super nine tailed fox and ran off with the heir of one of the most important ninja clans in hot pursuit yep it was official today sucked...badly.

The only thing that made it worse was the information she had received upon the capture of one sound ninja it would appear this was a preemptive raid and a full force strike would occur tomorrow. At least they had the info on where she just hoped that Naruto would be back by then.

* * *

Naruto ran through the trees of the forest as if the wind he knew he was still being followed by one but his mind was still on flight get as far away from those who would hurt him as possible. Hinata was starting to catch up to him as she jumped through the branches. Naruto was now starting to speed up making the gap between the two larger he could sense her movement slowing she was tiring. Hinata's mind was in a state whirlwind as she saw Naruto form moving ahead it was as if part of herself was being torn out of her tears started to pool in her eyes. 

The thought of never seeing naruto again was just too much"naruto please don't leave don't leave me alone.. She said as she watched him come to slow stop. He turned and looked at her he knew her she was the one he had saved... but he had to get away, away from the thoose that would hurt him. He turned around and slowly began to walk away with her still a good thirty feet from him. Hinata's head was swirling as the prospect of Naruto not being there fully hit her she tripped on a branch and feel to the ground.

As she took one last look at Naruto's retreating form she whispered "Please don't go Naruto-kun please" and broke out into full blown tears she didn't even notice that the fox had come to a stop. Naruto looked back she was crying why? He couldn't understand it she was she sad to see him go? His primal mind just couldn't process it...but she looked so sad. Hinata was crying her heart out Naruto was gone she felt like her world had just collapsed he was the person who made her smile he was her inspiration he was... he was gone.

She didn't notice it at first but there was something muzzling her head something warm it made her feel comfortable and safe she leaned into it a bit more then she remember where she was and what was going on her eyes snapped open and she resisted the urge to squeak. She found herself staring into those beautiful ocean blue eyes again for the third time this night.

* * *

She couldn't speak she couldn't even breath as the tears continued to stream down her face. Gently a large tails came up her cheeks whipping the tears away. The joy the happiness it overwhelmed her and she lunged out at the fox wrapping her arms around it neck crying into his shoulder she didn't care if he was a boy or a fox all she cared about was that he was here with her now. 

But alas this is Hinata were talking about here. Hinata face lit up with a luminous blush as she released naruto looking down as she twiddled her fingers naruto on his part was confused what was wrong? "Thank you for not leaving Naruto-kun" she said still looking at the ground. To Naruto she still seemed sad so he thought of something that might cheer her up. Even though his mind was running on primal mode he remembered something, something that might cheer her up. He sat down and tucked his front paws on the ground he was chest level with Hinata now as she watched him gesture his shoulders forward. "Huh? You want me to get on?" with a nod of his head Hinata walked over to him and let out a gasp as she was lifted by two of his tails on to his back she could have sworn she saw him smirk at that.

Naruto stood up slowly rising off the ground and began to trot forward in a leisurely pace then started running Hinata held on tight as the tree she to blur at there pace the all of a sudden Naruto jumped. Hinata held on even tighter than before as they ascended above the tree tops high into the air giving her a wonderful view of the moon as they seemed to float back down. They landed on the tip of a tree and were off, Naruto was skipping off the very surface of the canopy it was like magic!

They moved like this for some time before dropping back onto the forest floor. Naruto slowed down as the trees were getting less dense and the moon light more prominent. Hinata didn't say anything at all she just waited to see where Naruto had taken her. In front of them was a small river it looked deep she noted as naruto walked to it gently stepping onto it's surface as chakra came to his four feet allowing them to glide across if it was nothing as the moon clouded over. On the other side the trees became even less dense until they were gone completely.

* * *

It was dark as Naruto walked out into the open for a while then stopped as the moon came out from behind the clouds allowing Hinata to gasp in surprise at the scene before them. They were standing in a large meadow that went on for as far as the eye could see and was bordered by large snow capped mountains. The was a large pond in the center of it a small island in the middle with little mini islands surrounding it and as the moon's light shone down on it moon flowers of all kinds and colors began to bloom a light breeze making them sway delicately back and forth. 

"Naruto-kun it's beautiful" she said as she slid off of his back steeping out into the meadow twirling a little. She looked beautiful in the moonlight surrounded by white moon flowers. A lunar goddess he though as his eyes watched her as she danced and spun through the meadow his mind going away from earlier thoughts. She seemed happy to him now and that was all that was important he thought as he looked towards the moon his lunar goddess was happy.

* * *

So here ya go sorry I don't have more but I hope it's worth the wait post a review and let me know what you think thanks peace out LMZ 


	4. The Fox sleeps as the Aruimetto rise

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

* * *

To become a Fox: Part Four

* * *

The moon was high in the sky as fifteen blurs moved throughout the spiraling forest. Instantly they stopped as all came to a clearing. "Why have you stopped pursuit Toshi?"asked one of the masked figures. "It's this damn order I don't see why the Hokage want us not to kill this demon. I don't care if it's an order or not I kill it myself!" he roared before a fist connected with his head and he found himself being pummeled into a tree. Ryoma stood over him as he looked up into his fierce eyes.

"How dare you! Jiriya-sama and I owe our lives to that so called DEMON as well as you and the rest of this squad!". Toshi couldn't speak as Ryoma walked away but not before making his point adamantly clear "If you lay a finger on Naruto I'll kill you myself before Tsunade-sama gets the chance." with that he disappeared in the forest in a blur.

As Toshi stood up he found himself the target of many glares. Unlike most other ANBU squads this one was an elite made up of veteran Ninja, ninja who new the secrets of Konoha well including those about Naruto.

* * *

**CUE:**_**SECRET GARDEN**_by **MADOKA**

Hinata lay spiraled out in the meadow as a warm night zephyr blew across the fields, Naruto lay on his haunches not far away. This place is was so peaceful here she had almost forgotten about her near death experience only a few hours earlier now replaced by this magical place Naruto had taken her to. Said fox was enjoying the warm breeze as it ruffled his crimson fur and if Hinata had been closer she would have heard the low rumbling that could have been mistaken for a purr.

She turned to look at the him noticing that for the first time she could remember he seemed totally at peace. It may have had something to do with being a fox or something but the look on his face was not one of his goofy happiness but one of utter peace and serenity. It was a part of Naruto she had never seen before...well the whole transforming into a fox thing either but this was different. This meadow was a special place for him a place where he could be at peace free from being a ninja, free from the harsh words of the villagers she had heard thrown at him, free from everything and he had shared it with her... Her eyes widened in thought as she played it back in her mind again.

This was his special place, a magical place of such peace and beauty that he alone knew about... and he had shared it with her. She felt a tear come to her eye as she felt her heart fill up with joy. He willingly brought her to his secret garden. Hinata wished this night would never end as another warm zephyr blew across them, she could stay here forever. Her eyes began to close as she let the warm breeze lull her into sleep.

She was awoken sometime later by the soft nudging of her arm. When she opened her eyes she was greeted with those beautiful blue oceans that could only belong to Naruto. Hinata began to blush as she sat up and let out a yawn it was still night time but the moon had gone from view so it was probably about two or three hours till sunrise. As she stood up she noticed Naruto was crouching again his eyes looking at her causing yet another blush to rise to her feature as she interpreted the gesture, it was time to go and he wanted her to get on.

* * *

As she stepped up to him she stifled another squeak as she felt two tails wrap around her waist picking her up off the ground and placing her on his back, blushing all the way. 'Even if Naruto-kun has transformed into a giant fox I still can't find my vice when he's around.'

Once on and stable Naruto rose to stand height and began move towards the forest in a leisurely trot. Hinata turned back to get one last look at the beautiful scene. She felt sad at the prospect of leaving, naruto who picked up on this feeling swivelled his head to look back at Hinata. He made a motion with his head towards the meadow then towards her it took a few seconds but Hinata picked up the message with a smile, he would bring her back her whenever she wanted but she couldn't tell anyone else about this place this was there secret.

She felt the familiar weightless sensation as Naruto jumped onto the tip of a tree and began "tree skipping",as she had dubbed it, away. It was getting close to dawn when Naruto dropped through the canopy onto the forest floor with Hinata still on his back, from here on out it would take about an hour to get back to konoha at this leisurely pace Hinata didn't mind though she was enjoying the early morning walk.

Everything was quiet and peaceful until Naruto stopped walking crouched down and started to growl at something in less than five seconds they were surround by the fifteen ANBU. Naruto was on edge now and Hinata was scared as to what was happening what were the ANBU going to do to Naruto?

The whole situation would have escalated into something really nasty if Ryoma hadn't stepped forward and removed his mask fixing his brown eyes on the blue ones of Naruto. "Calm down Naruto it's me Ryoma were not here to hurt you or Hinata calm down". Hinata sensing that Naruto was still a bit distrustful began to talk to him "It's okay Naruto-kun they not here to hurt us." With that said Naruto began to cease his growling calming down much to the surprise of the other ANBU. Now that that all was out of the way Ryoma got back to business "Naruto and Hinata we were sent to escort you to the Hokage's tower so if you will follow us now".

And they were off just as simple as that, though you'd imagine that anyone who would have saw an ANBU squad and a giant nine-tailed with a girl on it's back leaping through trees would have been highly disturbed. They had just reached the village border when Naruto stopped running and came to a complete halt. Naturally this caused everyone to stop. He lifted Hinata off his back with his tails and slowly began to sink to the ground as bright blue chakra completely covered him and rolling off as if steam to reveal him now back in human form and unconscious.

Hinata was about to run over to him but Ryoma beat her there as he hefted Naruto onto his back and leaped away into the village she hesitated for a few seconds before continuing on her way. The streets of konoha were still sleep as the sun was just rising bringing light to the darkness and illuminated the village. All was quiet there was not as trace as to the event of the previous night only a slight scent of burning wood as if there had been a fire... After the quick journey to the tower Ryoma entered first with Naruto still out cold on his back. As he exited he made a turn in another direction carrying naruto with him as Hinata was ushered into the Hokage's office.

* * *

Hinata was nervous as she enter the Hokage's office she had not met the Hokage before and had no idea what was going on as she found herself alone with Tsunade after the ANBU had been dismissed. Tsunade eyed the young girl as she sat in the chair fidgeting her fingers. 'So this is the girl who has the crush on Naruto. Hmmm...Sakura wasn't kidding when she said that she had it in for him bad'. Putting on her serious 'I am the Hokage' face Tsunade began to address Hinata.

"Hinata do you know why you are here?" shaking her head no Tsunade continued. "Let us cut straight to the point okay? Last night Naruto transformed into a giant fox and as you already know saved you a good portion of our people. Hinata it is imperative you tell no one about this it's a S-class secret. You probably want to know why Naruto has gone through this change, I myself don't know why but I am sure it has to do with his past. I can not tell you about it as it is now a triple S-class secret but when Naruto decides to tell you then it means he trusts you enough to keep his secret."

Hinata froze at this, what secret could Naruto's past hold that was so classified?. Tsunade smirked now that the important doom and gloom stuff was out of the way she could have some fun. "Hinata when the village was attacked last night there was an order for all people to be off the streets by seven...so what were you and Naruto during all that time that you missed that order hmm?" asked Tsunade with a devilish grin on her face. That brought an instant blush to Hinata's cheeks as she remembered waking on lay on Naruto.

She tried to stutter out an answer but Tsunade wasn't finished playing with her yet. "In addition to that it would seem that you were with Naruto form some time after he changed. At this point Hinata began to go into full face blush at what Tsunade was implying as memories of flying across the tree tips and the beauty of the secret garden flashed across her mind then she felt herself getting dizzy. Tsunade smirked again as she looked at the girl it was no small secret she had a crush on the boy and there was no doubt that they were together when this whole mess happened but she still had to know what happened, not because she was the Hokage but simply because she was interested in this little romance...damn was she evil.

* * *

After telling Tsunade the whole story, save on how to get to the secret garden Hinata now sat twiddling her thumbs in full body blush while Tsunade sat there truly shocked. "Hinata" the whole tone of her voice had changed now it was more serious and held a hint of sadness to it. "Naruto is a truly amazing person he has many he considers precious to him but he lets few truly into his world. Hinata Naruto has had a hard path in life and still does for him to let you into his world like last night means he must really trust and care about you a lot. Your in love with him it's plain to see, that's why you were able to find him when no one else was you followed your heart."

"Whether you know it or not Naruto has let you into his world and shown you something so precious to him that he kept it secret just for himself. Not even I had known about this and he's like a little brother to me. This secret garden it's a special place a place where Naruto is free from the shackles of reality, free from the hurt and shun of the villagers free from the way of the shinobi, free from all the world worries. It's a place where naruto can truly be as himself. He's at peace there just as you described, for him to take you there and trust you with his secret is all but amazing. Hinata he has shown you his true self you may not realize it now but you will one day.

Hinata just sat there as she soaked up all that she had been told, did Naruto really care for her that much? As she was dismissed by Tsunade she paused as one last peace of advice made it to her ears "Hinata what Naruto has shown you keep a secret even if threatened with death. Naruto truly must care about you deeply to show you that side of himself don't ever let your mind cloud that image of him especially when you learn the truth about his past, don't ever brake the image of the true Naruto for that would brake him to." nodding her head Hinata left the room heading for home she needed to rest and reflect upon all that she had been told. As she watched Hinata go Tsunade let her thoughts go out 'Keep trying Hinata even if you don't know it your closer to your goal than you think.'

Getting up from her position at her desk tsunade left the office and rounded the corner. As she walked along the dismal pathway she let her sight stray towards the village which she protected, quiet and peaceful no clue of the conflict that was soon to take place outside it's walls. Sighing again she turn a corner walked down a hallway and entered her room allowing a light smile to grace her features.

Naruto was spiraled out in her bed sleep like nothing in the world could wake him, it was almost cute. "Hokage-sama" she was broken from her train of thought as a lone ANBU appeared behind her "We have scout the area and are readying to launch a surprise attack on the enemy forces". Her eyes sharpened. "Tell our forces to form on the enemy and prepare to attack in waves, I will be there shortly." with a nod of the head the ANBU disappeared. Giving one last look to Naruto tsunade smirked "sleep well naruto after last night you deserve it." with that she disappeared off to the battlefield where surprises were in order for all.

* * *

All was still as the wind blew across the field, it was as if time was still itself. Tsunade did not like this situation at all they had met up the enemy forces but in doing so they had forced both sides into an undesirable battle area. The field in which they stood was wide and open no cover except for the few boulders, small mountains and cliffs in the background. To make matters worse they were at a stand still.

While they had managed to sneak up on the enemy any attack would alert them to there presence and make this a very long and drawn out battle. Now it was a waiting game to see who would attack first. On the bad side they were out numbered a hundred to two hundred but all that soon would not matter because on the good side two young men where making there way thought the ranks talking rather loudly.

"I'll take the ones on the left you take the ones on the right Li ". Said the one who was slightly taller by a few inches. He was clad in traditional ninja garb and foot wear sword on his back along with some sort of baton, around his waist was a black belt with many pockets and another baton this one shorter. His entire out fit was black save for his vest with was also in traditional ancient style and part of his masked which were blue (Think Sub-zero).

On his back there was a white symbol that resembled a bird in flight but only the head with a red eye and part of the wings were visible this symbol was also viable on the left side of his vest in the front. His plain gray scarf cam half way down his back and his deep blue eyes shone like the ocean itself as a single scar down his left cheek was the only thong that marred his no doubt handsome face, overall he looked to be about eighteen and stood about 6'0.

"Works for me Kai" said his campion who was clad in a. It was no doubt he was a samurai for around his waist he wore the **Daisho** (lit. Big and small). He was clad in a light green body suit that separated at the waist with a black belt wear his swords were attached with the addition of a large steel kunai with a hole in the center attached to a chain on his left hip (Think Scorpion's spear from MK Deadly Alliance). He wore a vest similar to the one his campion wore except his was gold and very thick like amour, on his back there was a symbol etched in green that looked like a bird in flight with it's wings stretched high upward to almost a curl.

Instead of sandals he wore battle boots that had a gold lining on them, as the wind blew it picked up his gold scarf that came down almost to his feet. His unkempt black hair ruffled as the wind blew his dark jade green eyes sparkled like lightning, on his right cheek they was a large cross scar that seemed out of place on a face the could be described as perfect, overall he stood about 5'9 and looked to be seventeen. Both warriors had one thing in common though the symbols on each of there backs were inside of a larger symbol. It was a square tuned on it's axis with a streak right before each corner, a clan symbol.

As they continued to walk though the Leaf ninja as if there wasn't a major battle about to occur. Thought there actions caused most of the younger ninja to question their sanity those that were older began wiping there eyes to see if they were dreaming some going so far as to make kai signs with there hands to make sure this was not a genjutsu. As they continued there walk to the front line passing the crouching Leaf ninja they spotted Tsunade who was consulting with three ANBU Squad captains, Kakashi and Jiriya. As Tsunade spoke to the captains she caught movement out of the corner of her eyes 'It cant be...'she thought as the two figures began to walk passed her.

A few of the younger ninja began to get up and try and stop these two who obviously were crazy, only to be stopped by Tsunade herself. "Stand down!" she shouted looking at them with fire in her eyes. "But Hokage-sama they-" one began before he caught the look on her face. Noting that they were still tense one of the ANBU captains approached them and removed his mask showing a face that had seen many battles but still held the look of a common middle-aged man.

"Don't you know who they are?" he asked with an underlying insinuation in his questioning tone. Looking upon the young faces that stood before him he shook his head 'No I guess they wouldn't would they? There all to young to remember them...'.

* * *

As the two figures walked out into the open field of view of the Sound ninja Tsunade spoke up "They are the ones of legend a Ninja that transcend space and time and the Samurai that bridges the Tarth and Heaven's gate. Kai Kasshu and Li Kasshu the Aruimetto Hitokiri. Tsunade said as she began recounting an ancient legend.

_Long ago when demons still walked the earth freely and wars were common place among the lands there existed two warriors descended from celestial blood who's power was so great that they were feared across the land. A dragon in the form a swordsmen of such strength that the world itself tremble when ever he welded his sword_, _so great was his power that he was said to bridge the heavens gate to earth with his power. His brother a wolf who took the form of a ninja possessed such power that he part the very fabric of time and transcend space at his whim. Each able to slay an army of ten thousand with a single attack, their eyes glowed like the very creature they were, there wrath and darkness to be feared by all. With there power they helped to bring about an end to the days of demon terror and war, foraging the five strong nations new future bring about a new era in peace._ (A/N: I'll provide all history on them later)

Now the two stood before them about to let all those around glimpse their legendary power first hand. Those poor sound ninja...who at the moment were attacking in to waves of one hundred from either side. Their plan had been simple they outnumbered the enemy and attacking from both sides to wear down there defense while using the natural cover provided by the field seemed to be a good plan...if only those two kids hadn't given away there position the enemy might of had a chance.

Kai held his arm straight out to the left he decided to trim there numbers a bit just so they'd know what they were up against. In a instant the level of chakra he was putting out without any effort caused both sides to focus there eyes upon him. You could see the chakra pouring into his arm the light of it was almost blinding, to accumulate that much chakra was utterly jaw dropping even a kage couldn't call up that much chakra and make it look so effortless. The killer intent that he radiated was so intense it made some of the Leaf ninja loose there stomachs.

As the chakra began to form a ball in his left hand he turned his eye towards the sound ninja. "HUNTER WOLF JUTSU" he yelled thrusting the ball of chakra forward where it took on the shape of a HUGE wolf snarling and growling as it tore it way across the ground toward the sound fleet where upon impact it tore through fifteen and when it explode it took out sixty five not to mention the mountain behind them. "Don't you think that was a bit over kill Kai?" asked Li as he surveyed the damage then at that exact moment caught a kunai intended for the back of his head without looking as the large explosive tag went off. BOOM!!

As the smoke cleared Li stood there unscathed and unfazed. Suddenly he was pulsating with a strange force that wiped the chakra form the surrounding area...dissolving it away. "On second thought..." he whipped around raised sword above his head and brought it down issuing forth a mountainous crescent ark of white energy that speed towards the second company utterly decimating all but twenty of them as well a leaving a very deep crescent shape gorge in the ground...oh, and some mountain ruble. "Now what was that you were saying about over kill?" asked Kai.

Upon witnessing the utter destruction of the enemy force Jiriya almost fell face first to the ground. 'All those years and there still just as powerful as before.' Now if you were a Sound ninja you were _**A**_. Scared shitless and wanted to retreat. _**B**_. Wondering what the bloody blue Hell hit you. _**C**_. Dead. Or for the really stupid ones _**D**_. Preparing to attack thinking you enemy used all their energy with those two attacks. (A/N: Hmm I wonder which they are? Cough D! Cough)

* * *

Grossly out numbered and face with the possibility of death the remaining Sound ninja had to make a choice retreat and face Orochimaru or face death at the hands of the Legandary Hitokiri and Konoha ninja... it was an easy choice to make. They ran headlong to there deaths. Upon reaching one hundred yards of the two warriors the first two came to a stop. They eyed the two warriors over a bit smiling as they did so.

"So you two are the legendary Hitokiri eh? The strongest in the world. Well this will give use the chance to test our power against you!". These two were obviously the strongest out of the bunch because they began to draw up an ungodly amount of chakra vibrating as they did so and then they disappeared. The ground around Kai shook with explosions but he had already moved only to be caught in the next explosion Li just stood there eyes glued forward. 'So there using an new type of battle siut eh? well it preety strong as regualr standards go but it stll pales in comparison to us' thought Kai.As the smoke cleared Kai was revealed to be fine without a scratch on him as the two sound ninja appeared about thirty feet in front of Li. "So how do you like our super sonic speed jutsu. It's so fast not even the famed Aruimetto Hitokiri can keep up with us!."

Li just smirk "You young hot shots are always such fools. sure you were moving fast alright but you havent even thought your plan through your just showing off you power. you have no sense of honor your only gaol it to attain power and that will be you down fall. Oh and just incase you wanted to now your actually prettey slow." he said as if it was the plainest thing in the world, which in turn greatly pissed off said young hot shots. They disappeared again now there target was Li who was still standing still as a statue eyes glued forward as they ran around him in all directions. They circled him about six time before finally coming to a conclusion. "He's used up so much energy he cant even move! The legendary Samurai is about to fall at our hands I never expected him to be so weak that after one attack he'd just stand there. He cant even see us we move so fast. Our supersonic speed surpasses that of even legend truly we are -ECGGKHK!."

* * *

It happened so fast no one save Kai saw it, without moving an inch or batting an eye Li's arms shot out to each of his sides at different angles each hand firmly grasping a ninja neck lifting said ninja up in the air. At that moment any sound ninja with hope in there mind was brought harshly back to reality this was _**The**_ Aruimetto Hitokiri they were up against.

Li shook his head as he tightened his grip around the neck of his captive in his left hand witch effectively snapped his neck whereupon death he flung him like a wet rag at least thirty feet through the air. Then he brought his gaze to his other captives eyes who upon seeing his eyes wish it had been him that had died. Li's unusual green eyes were now a light orange and slightly glowing... it was a terrifying sight. It was like looking into your death...into a dragon's eyes.

There was no murderous intent as there was this his brother but something else was there coupled with those horrifying eyes. It was like you were facing a force you could never even hope to beat and you knew it. Everything fiber of his being and his mind was screaming at him to run, but he couldn't move. Jiriya, Tsunade and all the other ninja's could feel this power and it was scary. And what's more it was dissolving there chakra. One of the ANBU next to Tsunade had taken off his mask and was in cold sweat.

"Hokage-sama what in the name of Kami is this force, I've never felt such...such..I can't even described it." Tsunade paused for a few seconds "...It's Sakai; Samurai spirit. There are many samurai around the ninja nations but there aren't many true samurai so it's natural that you haven't experienced this force yet. Samurai unlike ninja do not use chakra they use the energy of the soul. To try and define the samurai spirit is impossible for a ninja but it is given the same term for soul energy but is an entirely different thing all together. I've experienced it before but this but never on this level before." (A/N: I will go into detail later)

"You made four crucial mistakes in this fight. Your first was assuming what you didn't know and revealing your jutsu. Second using your jutsu at the beginning of battle. A jutsu like that burns through chakra like a fire through paper. Third you got cocky. And last-" he said closing his eyes for a moment then snapping them wide open again **"-DON"T EVER UNDERESTIMATE **_**ME!!!!!" **_he roared as he cocked back his arm and threw the hapless ninja with the force of a battleship cannon straight at a mountain.

Like a missile the ninja flew at least half a mile before crashing going straight into one of the mini mountain on the battle field crushing it to pieces and still managing to continued out the back a little. "Fools" mutter Kai as he turned his he turned his once blue but now blazing lime yellow eyes at them the killer intent he radiated was so strong the very grass he stood upon died. Li had now joined in as his piercing orange eyes laid upon them his Sakai seeming to sky rocket to the point where looking at him made them freeze like deer in the headlights. The full magnitude of these two was incredible they were **THE** Aruimetto Hitokiri..what in the name of all things good had they been thinking going up against them. These were the warriors of legend said to transcend time and shake the very earth.

* * *

Run. Run. Run. The words coursed there minds fear was taking over. Those eye those demonic glowing eyes the power the sheer force it was suffocating. The will of the sound ninja was no more they didn't even know why they had come here in the first place the fear of orchimaru was gone even he was as nothing when compare with the just the raw force of being of these two and those eyes... those eyes were the most haunting thing about them it was worse then being under a microscope it was like the where searching examining ,prodding at there very souls.

A cloud covers the sun, a bird chirps, the wind blows.

At the split instant the sun is uncovered they all turn to run but are stopped when they turnaround only to come face to face with what they are trying to escape only this time there closer. "There is no escape" says Li emphasizing on the no.

The trees rustle, the leaves fall, a butterfly takes flight.

A Sound ninja in the front line cracks under the pressure and runs headlong towards the two warriors kunai at the ready, he is cut down by Li so fast the only visible motion is the blood spray as the sword is returned to the sheath. All save for five try to run once again. Kai pulled out his blue baton off his back as it lengthens into a Bo staff Li draws his sword in mere seconds they are all dead. The last five are so beyond fear that they each simply fall to there knees broken completely. As Kai walked up to them his eye began to revert back to there normal blue ,Li's having gone back to there normal but unusual shade of green as the imposing force dissipates. Kai eyed the five broken ninja.

* * *

He raises two fingers and from his body come five strands of chakra that wrap around there wrists, chakra cuffs. Next both Li and Kai turn there heads toward the now scared shitless Leaf ninja and make there way over to them who were thanking every deity they could think of that they were on their side. As they approached Tsunade who was still a bit dazed Li did the only thing he could think of to snap her back to reality he made a joke. "Long time no see, eh kid?" Bingo. Tusnade snapped like a pulled rubber band both fist at the ready she thrust them forward towards both of there face "I AM NOT A KID" she screamed only to have a fist caught in each hand the strength from the blow shatter the ground behind them.

"Hmm and still got that temper I see." Said Kai with a Naruto like grin much to the embarrassment of Tsunade who realized what she had just done and in front of her subordinates. She lit up with such a blush it could have made hinata proud. Said subordinates tried to hold back the laughter as snickers and stifled laughs could be heard quite clearly. They were doing better than Jiriya who had fallen to the ground and was rolling in pain from laughing so hard. After the laughter died down Kai to a fleeting glance back at the four sound nin. "What are they for?" asked tsunade gesturing to the bound ninja. "Information. Each one of them is an elite so it might be good to interrogate them for ant further attack plans and such. They'll tell you everything you want to know...oh and take the forehead protectors after this they will never have the will to fight ever again." with that said he and Li began walking away which puzzled Tsunade.

"We'll talk later about our little visit Tsunade." said Li taking the question right off her lips. "But were are you going?"she asked trying to get at least that out of them. They stopped walking were going to visit Naruto" said Li as he turned around his eyes sharpening. "We do hope the village has taken good care of him...for your sake. Said Kai as his eyes sharpened, they were not happy at all... with that Kai raised two finger and disappeared, the image of a log floating in air for a second afterwards and Li took off towards the village with such speed that it looked light a green lightning bolt had flashed. Tsunade was left with a sick feeling in the bottom of her stomach.

"Jiriya were are screwed aren't we?" the only response from him was "Ugh huh". "Kakashi how screwed are we?" she asked the latent copy ninja. "We are so screwed that we're on a whole new level... make that universe of screwedness." Tsunade sighed 'Kami we are so screwed.'

* * *

Hey guy sry it took so long to get this one up but school is a bitch. But im already working on the next chapter and I'll try to get it up sooner. Peace yall

LMZ


	5. Fox Day Afternoon

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Okay guy look I like writing this story but I also like getting feedback it's good to know that everyone is reading and puttin me on favs and alerts but I need feedback so please drop a review even if it's just a good job.

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To become a Fox: Part Three

* * *

Naruto slept peaceful in the mid noon sun curled into a ball on Tsunade's bed unaware that he was being watched. Both brothers were in the room standing over him. "Yep that's definitely Arashi and Kushina's kid can't miss it with a face like that. And from what we've seen he act just as much like his mother as he does his father. He's a good kid." Naruto stretched in his sleep dreaming a peaceful dream blissfully unaware of the world around him. Li smiled. "Yeah...Sometimes I wonder if we made the right choice leaving him here, this village doesn't deserve him. But all things considered we didn't have a choice in the matter did we." As they turned to leave Li gave one last fleeting glance at naruto 'Rest up Kid your going to need it'. In a flash there were gone leaving no trace of them ever being there.

The hidden ninja village of Konoha was alive with it's normal hustle and bustle, repairs were going smoothly as most of the night damage was refined to only a few areas and crews were expected to have the work done by this evening. Tsunade looked at the two figure standing on the edge of the build looking over the village scowling. She made no words to announce herself to them she didn't have to...they already knew. She stepped forward until she was but three feet behind them and then they made their thoughts clear.

"We're not happy tsunade we're not happy at all. We assume you know why." Tsunade didn't want to say anything she knew what was coming. "On that night all those years ago when we left Naruto in the care of this village we were assured his safety and well being, so why is it whenever his name is spoken it come off as acid on the tongue?" Tsunade held her ground and prepared to respond when she was interrupted. "And don't think we haven't seen the violence against him just because we weren't here doesn't mean we haven't been watching him." as this was said Li held out his arm and a white falcon landed on it roosting a few seconds before it took off into the blue skies again and with it Tsunade's last ray of hope for the village. "Konoha is truly blessed to have a spirit fox in their mist yet they wish his death. You have no clue how much Naruto loves this village, this people, this...land. And yet on the day of his birth he is forced to hide in fear of his own death at the hands of that we he saves from a most painful vengeance everyday spoke Kai.

"When we left him here it was because we wanted to we left him here because we wanted to keep him safe. Our homeland has been at war for the last twenty years Tsunade... Naruto's clan and ours have had a bond that stretches over a thousand years, he and his entire family were as such to us...family. And it is only natural we shared many of the same enemies... enemies who want nothing more to see the last heir of the Uzumaki clan dead. With the country in constant battle areas of peace are few and far between and we couldn't be sure if we could protect him all the time. When the Kuuybi attacked and was sealed into his stomach we weren't sure what to do but Arashi in his dying words convinced us that Naruto would be alright if we left him here. If we had had any clue of what his life would have been like we would have never left him here. If Arashi were alive he would have destroyed Konoha himself after witnessing the treatment of his son, let alone what Kushina would do if they both were here. Hell the only reason we haven't is because of Naruto, he is the only thing that is keeping this village from destruction at our hands." Tsunade's eyes widened and her breath was caught in her throat while the two finished.

"Naruto is very special...he wishes to protect this village these people even after what he has been through he truly has a kind heart and were glad that there are some who can see that. It is these people that keep him going, that keep his dream alive, there love there own kindness and compassion are like food to a starving man for him. Now that he is turning into a spirt fox he will need there support more than ever and even though we haven't been there for him as much as we wanted were going to be there for him now." a peaceful zephyr blew across the roof top.

"Naruto will be waking up soon you should be there when he does we'll talk more later". With that said they disappeared in respective ways and Tsunade let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. 'I'm getting to old for this I need a drink'.

When Tsunade returned to her office she was not surprised to find that Kakashi, Jiraiya and Shizune were waiting for her. "Are we screwed?" asked Jiraiya. "Nope, just barley though remind me to never ever in the name of all the is sweet and heavenly to take Naruto for granted because he is the only thing that saved us." said Tsunade as she pulled a bottle of sake out from nowhere. 'Where did she get that?...' thought everyone as they watched her go to work on the bottle. "Unfortunately I didn't learn anything else but they said they'll talk more with me later so I guess until then you all can relax." with that matter cleared Kakashi nodded his head and disappeared in a poof of smoke while Jiraiya went out his usual way...the window. 'I'd wish he would just use the door like a normal person or poof away like Kakashi but nooooo he has to jump out the window.'thought tsunade laying her head on the desk.

* * *

Naruto felt the sun tickle his face with it's warm caress lulling him gently out of his sleep... **"Wake up kit". **Then he heard the voice of that damned fox telling him to get up. He stretched his arms high above his head yawning and unintentionally taking in the scent of the room he was in. 'Emm slugs, document papers, pig and...sake?' with that he opened his eyes and looked around. "Where am I?".he said to none in particular as he looked around the room taking in more of the scent that was all around him it smelled... "Baa-chan's room" he said all he realized where he was.

Still in his morning fog he got and stated walking towards the bathroom to perform his morning habit. After exiting he was noticing that he was feeling kinda strange and stopped in front of Tsunade's large body length mirror to look himself over. 'Huh I feel fine I guess. Heads here arms here legs here. Every thing looks alright ear's are fine'. he said feeling his ear twitch a bit. Reaching behind he took a few seconds to study his back. "Yup everything's here, tail's fine". He stopped cold. 'Wait tail?...I don't have a...' "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

Tsunade heard the scream spit out her sake and almost fell over her desk trying to get the door as she and shizune not mention Jiraiya and kakashi bolted down the hallway at speeds which would rival most NASCARs. BOOM! in less than three seconds Tsunade had broken down the door with fists bared, Kakashi had Sharingan uncovered with Raikiri (Lightning Blade) in hand, Jiraiya had entered Sage Mode ready to unleash some kind of hellish jutsu and Shizune had needles at the ready. Quickly sensing that there was no threat they dropped from the attack poses and looked around the room fro the source of the noise mainly Naruto. Everything looked normal except fro the large lump emanating from Tsunade's bed.

Tsunade made her way over to said lump and poked it a couple time and once confirming that the lump i.e. Naruto was alive she began to ask questions. "Naruto what's wrong why did you scream..and why are you hiding under the covers like a little kid?"she asked while eyeing the boy covered with the comforter. "Oh it was nothing if you don't mind Im just gonna stay here for a while.. Like the rest of my life." he said in a nervous and very fast tone. "One no one screams for nothing two...YOU CANNOT STAY IN MY BED FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!" she yelled as she began grappling with Naruto for the covers "No!" "Erg Naruto"tsunade yelled as she pulled harder. "No!" yelled naruto pulling back just as hard determined to stay underneath the blanket.

Tsunade was growing tired of this game now so with a chakra enhanced pull she yanked the blanket as herd as she could not taking into account Naruto grip on it, which ended up in him flying straight into her as the blanket torn to pieces. Now Naruto sat on the ground face planted and legs up in the air leaving everyone to view his new...attributes. It took about three seconds for Naruto to figure out he was uncovered before he grabbed half of the shredded blanket and cowered underneath it again but by then the damage had already been done.

Now Tsunade had a situation the boy who she saw as a younger brother and sometimes even a son had just grown fox ears and a tail and was currently hiding under half of a torn blanket...and she had to get him out. 'This isn't going to be easy'. "Naruto please come out from under neath the blanket now."she asked in a motherly type voice. The blanket moved back and forth for a few seconds causing tsunade to sigh. "Please Naruto?" now was literally begging but it was working. Slowly the blanket slid down revealing Naruto who had his eyes glued to the floor.

Tsunade was reaching out to hug him when she was knocked over by a navy blue blur "KAWAII!!" shouted Shizune arms wrapping around Naruto in a death hug while simotaneusly rubbing the fox ears on the top of his head. 'Oh great now I have to get Shizune off of him'. Shizune like most members of the female population is attracted to all things cute and fuzzy so when she saw Naruto it was like a mini reaction going off in her brain which culminates in hugging said cute and fuzzy creature and/or object which in this case happened to be Naruto.

"Just when I think the kid can't throw anymore surprises at me...I'm getting to old for this." said Jiraiya as he turned to leave, he would get the story from Tsunade later right now there was a bottle of sake calling him. Kakashi with both eyes wide open decided it was best if he hadn't seen that yet. "I have to go and get lost on the path of life I'll report in later." with that he left in the same direction of Jiraiya hoping to join him 'First he turns into a fox and now this what ever happen to the days when things were simple... like him growing four chakra tails, being possessed by a blood thirsty fox spirit and trying to kill us, I miss those days.' he thought looking up towards the sky. Back in the room Naruto was currently being cuddled while Tsunade looked at the scene before her she did have to admit he did look cute with those fox ears but...oh what the Hell?

Now Naruto was being cuddled by not one but two women who he was starting to question the sanity of. **"The tails and ears are a lady magnet kit".** After about two minutes of cuddling (three more for Shizune) Naruto was now standing in front of Tsunade who was looking at him from head to toe. "Hmmm" she went as looked at the two ears on top of his head twitch, they were both fox ears and they were the same a when he had transformed they didn't look anything like the Kyuubi's just normal RED fox ears and a somewhat large bushy red tail yup nothing strange about that.

"Well you don't look that bad." she said casually noticing the look Naruto gave her 'Oops'. "Don't look that bad! I got a tail for crying out loud A TAIL! My life is over I'm just gonna curl up and die here!' he said falling to his knees and burying his head in his hands. POOF it was a sound not unlike that of a shadow clone being dispelled and another tail appeared in a small plume of smoke. Tsunade blinked as she looked at the second tail 'Well that's interesting.' she thought. "Please tell me that's not what I think it is." asked Naruto from his position on the floor. "It's...another tail."said Shizune as she looked at the tail slowly swishing. The yell could be heard even outside.

After about thirty minutes of claiming Naruto down and another hour of formulating a plan upon hearing the story that Naruto had told them...oh and realizing Naruto couldn't stay up here forever Tsunade had given naruto his privileges. "Okay Naruto until we can get thing straightened out we can't risk having you outside for that long. You'll have to cover you ears and your tails, which if im right you'll be getting seven more of before the day is over. Also I don't recommend doing any training at least not for now any way. Oh and one more thing no missions for a while." surprisingly there was no protest from the blond in question as he still had his eyes locked to the floor a look of sadness glued upon his face.

The tense mood was broken when Naruto's stomach announced it's presence by grumbling..quite loud actually. Tsunade smiled as she laid a hand on the blushing blond shoulder. "Why don't you go get something to eat but remember not to stay out to long okay?" she said with a smile. Looking up at her he smiled it wasn't one of his trademark fox grin smiles but it was a true smile a smile Tsunade felt honored to received. Just as he was about to turn and leave he felt arm wrap themselves around him again. "Don't worry everything will work out some how Naruto." and with that he felt a tear come to his eye. Tsunade smiled as she wipe the tear away and began forming ideas on how to conceal him...and how to deal with the counsel.

* * *

Elsewhere Sakura was walking through town she wasn't really fuming but she was chilling either. Naruto was still on her mind, she hadn't seen him yesterday after the battle and she hadn't seen him today either and she was starting to get worried not that she would ever admit it though she still was hold a deep resentment for him after that failed mission... she decided that if he was in fact okay then he would be at the once place he could almost always be found at and if he wasn't there then he was training at least she hoped... So she set off in her self proclaimed mission with the mental cry of inner sakura: **CHA!**

Hinata had awoken earlier that morning and after being interrogated by her father for three hours thought it best if she spends sometime out of the house. Now she was just walking down the street not really paying attention to where she was going having no clue of what she would encounter to day.

* * *

Naruto was walking faster then he normally would trying to avoid glares and stares as he speed walked his way to Ichiraku's. After about thirty minutes tsunade had managed to get him cover in a large over hang coat and hat, he looked for a better part of the word shady. Unfortunately the weather wasn't on his side as the temperature had hit a nice 95 degrees making him for lack of a better word roasting.

Words travels really fast and in a ninja town even faster so it was no surprise he was receiving more glares and death threats then usual. He was also drawing strange glances as he looked a bit over dressed in the large coat and out of place hat especially in this type of weather.Poof and now he had three tails swishing underneath of that coat of his as people looked about trying to discern the source of the sound. 'Oh you'll be fine she says, it isn't that strange she says humph she's not the one growing tails!'.

In record time he had made it the ramen shop and was ordering. Strangely he was asked no question about his odd choice of clothing by the old man or Ayame but they had already been briefed by tsunade and knew what the situation was. A large bowl of Miso Pork flavored ramen was placed in front of the boy with a smile as he began to eat at a pace which made Ayame question his health, but a sad smile from her father told her more than what she needed to know. You didn't need to look to see that naruto was down you could just feel it, she wanted to give the poor boy a hug and probably would have if another customer had just walked up.

* * *

Hinata had walked around for good couple of hours when she felt he stomach grumble bring her out of her stupor. Oddly she recognized where she was at she was in front of naruto favorite Ramen shop. Hinata was not one to eat ramen that often but today she felt an odd craving for it and walked into the shop taking a seat next to a person in a coat and hat.

The old man was surprised to see a Hyuuga here especially this one sure she'd stop by but only once in a blue moon. His eyes then shifted to naruto who was just now finishing his bowl of Ramen and saw a chance to bring him out of his rut a little...and have some fun. Being a ramen shopper is just like being a bar tender people will talk to you all you have to do is listen and you can learn quite a lot even some of what your not suppose to know. "Oi Naruto let me get you another bowl and don't worry about the charge it's on the house." at that second Hinata froze and wanted to be very far away as she slowly turned her head to look at the blond next to her. "Oh I almost forgot! What will you be having Miss Hinata?"asked the old man with a glint in his eye.

* * *

Naruto's chopsticks stopped midway to his open mouth and tumbled out of his hand.POOF four tails. Memories flashed through his head faster than he could imagine until it was like a full movie of what happened last night and a blush write itself across his face. **"I was wondering when you would remember what happened last night. I was going to use it to torture you with but this human beat me to the punch. Oh and might I add kit nice touch taking her to the garden it's a really beautiful place...and before I forget extra points on the muzzling."**. The fox was literally rolling around laughing in the cage."Um...Hi Hinata-chan". He said after sampling the scent that belonged to no one but her. When he turned his head he found that he was no more than a few inches from the face of a blushing Hinata Hyuuga. It was a perfect peaceful moment until Kiba came bustin in the place that is.

Upon spotting Kiba naruto Ducked his head back in the other direction but that didn't save him from Kiba's eyes. "Oi Naruto what happened to you last night you baka we could have used your help! Good to see your alive anyway." he said as Akamaru barked in agreement then took notice of hinata who he hadn't seen all day. "Hey Hinata is it true what happen last night?' he asked in a hushed tone. "W-well uu-umm you s-see ...yes" she said blushing as she looked towards naruto. "Wow Hinata your really brave to have taken on that sound elite yourself last night." which caused hinata to blush more POOF five tails.

"Did you guys hear something ?" asked Kiba his ears picking up on it. It seemed things couldn't get any worse to naruto when **she** had to show. "Naruto!!!!"POOF six tails. 'Oh sweet Kami help me.' he thought as he put his head on the table. Enter Sakura looking well pissed... "Naruto where are you-...oh hey Hinata, Kiba."it's amazing how she can just shut off her angry like that isn't it? "H-hello Sakura-chan" stuttered out Hinata. "Hey" said Kiba with an accompanying Woof from Akamaru. At this point Naruto decided confrontation was inevitable and decides to announce his presence.

"Hey Sakura-chan." wrong move. 5...4...3...2..1. in less than half a second Sakura had made her way next to naruto totally disregarding Hinata and everyone else and began berating him for not being able to help track the fox down last night and disappearing in the middle of the battle. All of said berating culminated in sakura picking naruto up by the collar and shaking him like a rag doll while telling hi not to make her worry like that.

Once set back down Naruto was starting to wonder if things could get any worse so it wasn't surprising when Sakura took notice of his strange choice in clothes that day. "Naruto it ninety degrees out and your wearing a hat and coat, what is wrong with you!" she said letting her inner anger at the boy take over. Naruto was mildly surprised 'heh the first time she talks to me in weeks and it to berate for wearing a coat and a hat plus not helping to capture the fox not even a "hey are you alright didn't see you after the battle didn't know if you died or not" not she comes to yell at me for wearing a coat.'

POOF seven tails'Oh no'. "What was that?"asked Sakura looking around. "I don't know" said Kiba also looking around the ramen shop for the source of the noise. "this is the second time i've heard it". Sakura although distracted for a moment went back on the ball as her inner anger started control her actions. "Ok Naruto take off that jacket and coat just looking at you is making me sweat" said Sakura. Kiba was unknowingly making things worse when he said "Yeah man I mean come on look at you your burning up in that thing."as he noticed naruto sweating but for an entirely different reason that he was thinking. "Nah Im fine" said Naruto "Really Im 'fine!" waving his hands.

But Sakura wasn't taking no for an answer and began to struggle with the coat naruto had a firm grip on. "Ergh Naruto!" "Erh No!" Hinata wanted to do something but she couldn't move it was like watching a television and she was froze to the spot. The struggle was starting to garner a lot of outside attention as it became increasingly more violent and loud. The end result of the struggle was an almost exact replay of the situation earlier, Sakura pulled as hard as she could but naruto was pulled with and when the dust cleared she held the ripped shirt and Naruto was face planted on the ground coatless and hatless POOFPOOF and now with all nine tails. Naruto opened his eye and was up and gone in flash from a smoke bomb but even thought it may have only been two seconds it was long enough for everyone to see it.

* * *

"What the hell...?" asked Sakura as she held the tattered remains of the coat and hat. Kiba wasn't sure what he had saw, first he had seen Naruto on the ground then he saw something red and Naruto was gone. The old man saw it only a second but couldn't make much out except for the ears and Ayame had seen it all from the coat being ripped to the nine tails and the hat flying off revealing a pair of fox ear, 'cute fox ears.' she added as an after thought while she covered her mouth with her hands. It was then that the ramifications of what she had seen struck her and her father and they didn't like it at all. This meant that poor boys life was about to get even harder because they weren't the only ones who had seen it, a lot of people had gather around the little ramen shop and there was good chance they had seen it too. They draped their heads in sorrow for the boy...

* * *

Naruto flew across the rooftops as fast as he could running, jumping doing anything to get away. ' he didn't know where to go, home? No. Word spreads too fast and that's just what he didn't need a swarm of angry ninja ready to kill the fox boy. He could only think of one place to go but he couldn't get there quickly enough with out more people spotting him and following him at this speed. **"Kit transform, your must faster in your fox form."** naruto didn't even think but just asked "How?". "I**magine your self growing. Picture the change in your head and focus your energy on it.".** Naruto focused on an image a fox, a red fox large and powerful and instantly blue chakra started rolling about him and he felt himself changing to his fox form and he was off to places known only to him...and Hinata.

As he ran he felt himself adjusting to this new form, he felt himself liking it. It felt natural fox him as he leapt through the dense forest maneuvering through trees like a lost comet.** "Well what are you going to do kit? As much as I would like to see you raze that accursed city to ash that's just wishful thinking on part."** Naruto thought long and hard about that one. No he definitely wouldn't be destroy and towns but wasn't sure about what he was going to do. He could runaway and not look back but something didn't feel right about that it was like he was forgetting something... ("Please naruto don't leave me alone"). The voice wrung clear in his head it was Hinata's. ("don't worry everything will work out") Tsunade's. He couldn't leave behind the people he cared about. No he decided, he wasn't going to leave but he wasn't coming back until at least night fall that way there'd be less people out to see him.

"We'll just keep an eye on him to make sure he's alright Kai but right now I do believe that we have a counsel meeting to interrupt". Li said to Kai while looking into the strange crystal ball that reviled naruto. "I do believe your right Li".

* * *

The counsel of the leaf village, clan heads village elders and Hokage of past or hokage present. This meeting was in full swing as the case topic was a heated one. "Naruto has proven himself time and time again as nothing but a dedicated ninja and wish to protect his village" said tsunade. "We cannot have that demon roam freely around you witnessed what he did to those sound jounin! He swatted them as if them were mere bugs!" yelled Hiashi Hyuuga.

"No. What I saw was him save your daughter and a good portion of our ninja." said Kakashi eyeing the man. This cause the whole room to light up in a swarm of whispers at this revelation. The three head elders rose. "This matter has been debated and debated we have decided that for the safety of the village we must take action against this threat." tsunade froze they couldn't be planning on that but knowing who they were and what they thought... "we have decided in favor of Hyuuga-san the boy must be dealt with and we will-" the door burst open flying against the wall.

"You'll do what?"asked Kai as he and Li as made there way into the counsel chamber. "You'll do nothing that is what you will do." said Li. Tsunade was split mentally on one side she was extremely happy that naruto would be fine but on the other side she was really scared about what these to would do. Danzo was the first to rise "How dare you! Who do you think you are! To disrespect this counsel judgement is an act of war the boy will be terminated and that is final!" he yelled roaring at Li and Kai. Kai said nothing but his eyes changed and in an instant he had Danzo by the collar of his shirt off the ground with Li at his side.

"Listen and Listen well child. 400 years I've walked this earth and I've yet to see such stupidity as yours. I remember forging the five nations as well as picking the first hokage. Li spoke up next "250 years old and I've yet to here a stupider question then what you just asked. We are Prince Kai and Li Kasshu of the Kasshu clan first and second heir to the throne of the Mystic Valley." Kai was next to speak again as he held Danzo by his collar. "And by the way I wasn't asking that you do nothing I was _telling_ you that you **will** do _**nothing**_." with that he set the man down as Li held up his hand as a rather old and tattered scroll appeared out of thin air and began to unravel it's self.

"This is a contract that has been in our family for over a thousand years. And it clearly states are intent." said Li as he pointed and the scroll flew to Tsunade. "Now if you would read the scroll please." tsunade looked at the ancient document eyes bugging out at what it implied so with hands shaking she began reading the ancient text.

"This document is proof thereby representing that both parties are in equal agreements with it terms which are as followed. This contract is established on the basis that all members and future heirs of the Uzumaki clan and blood right are hereby protected and exhumed as a non blood right branch family of the imperial Kasshu clan and fall under it's protection. As such members will be protected in times of need by said royal family and heirs so on and so forth as is able. Infraction against the Uzumaki clan unless by just cause will result in severe consequences as it is pertained as infraction against the royal family. As this document pertains to safe keeping of the Uzumaki blood right existing members of said blood right reserve the means to summon any Kasshu heir i.e.( Dragon, Wolf, White Tiger, White Fox, Rabbit) in battle or in subsequent need as pertains to the previously stied agreement through chakra and/or magic etc. this contracts agreement is not nullified or render void of the existing secular contract between the Uzumaki and there spirit fox companions yet encompasses them as members non blood right branch family and protect by the previously cited agreement as pertain so on and so forth. Such as the agreement has been ascertained this contract is rendered effective as signed head of the Kasshu clan 10th Emperor Masahari Kasshu head of the Uzumaki clan Namikaze Uzumaki of the Mystic Valley."

Tsunade set down as she finished her throat feeling dry while smiled at the counsel. The rest of the counsel was quiet as Li and Kai addressed them" do you really want to go to war against the Mystic valley?" they asked with a smile. "..." "Didn't think so. Naruto Uzumaki and any spirit fox affiliated with his family are under are protection make sure that is spread well across this village because if we even think that something is being down to hurt Naruto...may heaven help whoever".

With that they turned to talk to Tsunade but was stopped by Danzo. "You..you can't do this! How can you protect a demon! The child...that DEMON is the pure essence of evil!". he yelled at there retreating forms. They said nothing but chanted something and gestured to the middle of the room with their hands and a pool of what could only be described as liquid light rose from the floor and formed a sphere which was viewing Naruto as he lay on his back in fox form wriggling back like a dog on a soft bed of grass feet in the air. It was quite hilarious actually.

"Oh yeah that's the pure essence of evil alright we better hide in case he decides to chase butterflies." said Li watching the globe. With that both princes turned to leave. "Bit your tongue Hyuuga." said Kai catching Hiashi's discontent before it left his mouth as they walked out the broken door.

* * *

Naruto had spent about three hours in the garden just relaxing and thinking... "Henge!"(Transformation) POOF as the smoke cleared he looked down at himself. "Darn it! Almost had it!" he yelled looking at the solitary tail that swayed behind him. After about five more tries and four more curses Naruto had finally managed to hide his fox features and decided to set off for home but not before taking one last glance at the garden. The full moon would be here soon and the moonflowers would be blooming.

* * *

It had been a long long long day for Tsunade and she was ready to go home and go to bed but as she enter her room she came face to face with a sight that made her want to laugh. Apparently Shizune had taking a liking to cuddling Naruto as said boy was once again being cuddle. Shizune stopped her cuddling for a few seconds to look at Tsunade and blushed. "I couldn't help it." she said meekly as she rubbed Naruto behind the ear who found it strangely enjoyable. Tsunade just put her had to her head. This hadn't been a dog day afternoon no the a most assuredly been a fox day afternoon.

* * *

Hey guy sorry this chapter took so long to get up but there's this little thing called school and my job that keeps me real busy but any way let me know what you think and please please leave a review I beg of thee!

LMZ


	6. The Fox,The MoonFlower and the Shop Girl

"

To Become a Fox: Chapter 5

* * *

Tsunade awoke to an unusually silent morning in her bed, and it was for lack of a better word to describe it peaceful. She rose out of her bed and dawned her night robes for even though she was awake it was at least another two hours before sunrise and she wanted to check if the noise she discerned during the night was what she was hoping it would be.

Sure enough as she made her way down the hall, forgoing the guest room to her small living room area she spotted him. Wrapped in a blanket of his nine tails and now sporting fox paws for feet was Naruto on the small love seat. She said nothing as she made her way over to him. As she drew closer, she noticed that he was shaking slightly and mumbling under his breath at first she was surprised until it sank in . . . he was having a nightmare.

She continued toward him until she was at the end of the small couch gently lifting him up a bit she sat down and placed his head in her lap. She looked down at his struggling form and began to gently stroke his head, her finger gently gliding over his face as she resisted, and failed, the urge to play with his ears. As he began to struggle less, she moved to his whisker marks tracing them with her finger tip in a gentle motion. "Naruto." she said as she watched as his face twisted and contorted into different positions and he began to sigh his lips starting to move. Tsunade leaned in and could just barley make out the words... "Why does everyone hate me? I don't hate them. Why do they call me monster and demon, throw things at me?...no no..no please I didn't do anything!.."

Tsunade was on the verge of tears she had heard about the treatment Naruto had received when he was a child by the village but she had no idea it damaged him psychologically like this. She allowed her mind to wander... heir to the Uzumaki clan, son of Kushina and Arashi the fourth Hokage and to top it Royal emissary and branch member of the Imperial Kasshu clan of the Mystic Valley there greatest allies not to mention one of the most kindhearted if not the most kindhearted person she had ever met. No Naruto definitely did not deserve any of this she thought as she was shaken back to the moment at hand by Naruto who was now shivering and curling himself into a ball, his tails wrapping tight around him as his ears laid flat.

'Frailty'. thought Tsunade. 'This is what he hides from the world'. in all his abilities and his heart Naruto was still only human...well maybe not so much anymore but the concept still applied. The pain, the sorrow ,the feeling of being alone truly alone cast away by all around you... for someone to live like that and still be able to smile even if it was a fake smile was nothing short of amazing. For the first time Tsunade had a clear view of Naruto she saw him for everything that he was brave and courageous, swift and strong, kind-hearted yet so sad, full of sorrow and loneliness. She had never really given any thought as to how alone he really felt until now. Sure she knew he had friends but she also knew that among them they each probably held no clue as to the real Naruto let alone his secret. 'Fear'. she thought. He was scared. It was as simple as that. The greatest fear Naruto had was that he'd end up back where he started and the idea of being alone in the darkness scared him so he probably clung to any sort of social interaction he got.

He was shaking and now as she upon his face it held such a look of sadness on it she couldn't hold it in any more... she burst into tears and she wept for him, she wept for him because no one else save maybe three people would. As the tears continued to fall his shaking became worse the dreams were becoming more livid the fear more rampant and at the point where it could go no higher Shizune walked into the room. "Tsunade-sama are you alright?" she asked in her timid voice failing to survey the seen first. That one disruption was all Naruto needed for the fear to take hold over his body in an instant he snapped awake and had transformed into his fox form tails flying about his eyes full of fear and uncertainty darting bak an forth.

Tsunade had not moved an inch and Shizune had fell on her backside at the sudden appearance of him. Naruto surveyed his surrounding shaking with fear as the adrenalin rushed through his systems. Tsunade gently rose to her feet tears still falling as Naruto turned to her at the sudden motion he sensed. Tsunade slowly stepped to him noticing the livid fear in his eyes, he was scared and disorientated and back away from her, a sight which made Tsunade's heart wrench.

She kept her pace slowly inching towards him she had to take it slow or he would bolt away from her and with him like this if he were to get outside there would be no telling how it would end. Finally when she was close enough she slowly raised her arm and buried her face in the fur of his neck as she hugged him, his fur beginning to grow wet from the tears. In truth Tsunade had often thought of Naruto as a son a lot of time in the past but now she felt it more so than ever. As Naruto's senses came back to normal he craned neck into the hug. 'Family' thought Tsunade. Something naruto never knew but longed for. Like Li and Kai had said to her yesterday, she may have not also have been there for him before but she'd be damned if she wasn't going to be there for him now and maybe he would start to see her as such, as family. Naruto looked down as he felt another pair of arms wrap around his neck. Tsunade looked up to find shizune tears streaming and arms clutching at Naruto. Maybe just maybe now his family could start to grow because of all people he deserved to have one.

Naruto couldn't describe the feeling he had right now it was like how he felt when he was with Hinata at the garden but different it was nice. After that things had returned to some sense of normalcy...well except for the giant fox in the middle of the room. Shizune and Tsunade stood in front of Naruto admiring his fox form this was the first time they had got to see him in it up close. Naruto for his part was having a bit of a problem he couldn't seem to transforms back... it took about five minutes but eventually Tsunade got the message and came up with an idea. "Naruto why don't you go for a early morning run the sun still has about two hours before it rises and don't worry No one is going to hurt you or come after you anymore." 'Li and Kai will see to that'. "When your finished come back and we'll see about getting you something to eat okay?".

Nodding his head naruto turned around and made his way down the hall to the balcony thanking the Kamies that everyone was still sleep. Once to the balcony he leap on to the roof of the Hokage mansion and surveyed the area a few seconds. A run through the village was out of the question so he turned his attention to the forest, in particular a side of the forest had yet to venture into. While naruto knew most of the surrounding forest like the back of his hand he never really had a chance to explore this part mainly because on a side of the village he didn't head towards often...and because it was near the Hyuuga compound but since it was still before dawn he doubted anyone would be out this early. So with an effortless bound he leaped into the air heading towards the unknown part of the forest skipping off of a few building until he reached the tree line looking forward to a predawn stroll through the woods in solitude, little did he know he wasn't going to be alone in these woods today...

* * *

Hinata let out a gentle sigh as she walked through the dew rich forest. It was not un common for her to do this in the mornings before dawn. A trait she got from her mother her father had told her in a rare moment of tranquility. Yet she had woken a bit earlier than usual this morning and had opted not to change out of her night wear which consisted of a simple white kimono and sandals. She knew she would be back at the compound long before anyone was awake and the chances of being attacked were almost none existent.

She stopped for a second to take in the scent of the forest she enjoyed simple moments like these. Moments where you could forget about the world and all the troubles that come with it. Memories of the Secret Garden came to her mind and she found herself daydreaming about it and Naruto. 'Naruto-kun'. at that thought scenes form the incident six days ago began to play though her mind. After that had happened Naruto had seemingly vanished no had seen or heard from him it was like he didn't exist anymore. She was so deep in thought that she almost didn't realize she had reached her destination. she stood in a small clearing with what looked to be about ten plant vines growing out of the ground. Hinata looked at them with a sad sigh, and she had worked so hard too.

Another one of the traits Hinata got from her mother was a love of Moonflowers. she had planted these herself quite a while ago but they still refused to grow right every full moon she would come out to check to see if they were in bloom but they never were and she had all but about given up hope. She let out another sigh as she bent down to inspect one of the plants. "Well I guess no Moonflower blooms again". She said to herself, unknowingly Naruto who had been about twenty feet for where she picked up on the sigh and went to investigate. As soon as he turned he picked up her scent which he would have noticed earlier if he hadn't been thinking so deeply about things. 'Lavender and a hint of lilac...Hinata'. he made his way to within five feet of her crouching low to the ground behind a large bush. As he watched the seen play out his eyes moved from the flowers to Hinata, she looked so sad.

Hinata looked towards the sky noticing the change in color and thought it best if she made her way back to the compound all the while oblivious that she was being watch by he who weighed so heavily on her mind. 'Hinata...' thought Naruto as he watched the young heiress walk off in the direction of the Hyuuga mansion the predawn light giving her a ethereal look. After she had left his field of vison Naruto made his way over to the small plant she had been looking at leaned his head a little and gave a sniff he instantly knew what they were and began to formulate something in his head. It was just past noon when Naruto returned to the Hokage mansion where even long before entering he had picked up the scent of Miso pork ramen. He felt his stomach grumble and realized how hungry he was...especially now that there was ramen involved!

Calmly he strode in and past two ANBU guards at the front who did little more than nod at him, then past the secretary desk which surprisingly was empty usually at this time of day Shizune would be shuffling through paperwork and would stop and give him a smile. At last he reached his destination...Tsunade's office. The two Chuunin moved aside as Naruto approached at first it had been hard to accept that a six foot tall nine tailed fox was harmless, after a few days though it was kinda getting to be almost normal...almost. Naruto paid them little attention though as he walked in through the open door not even noticing the occupants in the room, until one decided to gasp... which immediately turned Naruto into the proverbial fox in the headlights.

Ayame held her hands to her mouth as she struggled to grasp the concept of what was in front of her. "See what did I tell ya right on time". said Tsunade as she walked up to Teuchi who was still gaping at the sight of Naruto.

5...

4...

3...

2...

1..

"KAWAII!!" yelled Ayame as she ran over to and attached herself to Naruto's neck squealing like a child while she hugged him like a plushy. Teuchi still had his mouth open and eyes wide as he handed a smiling Tsunade 8000 yen without even looking away as Ayame continued to death cuddle Naruto. Teuchi had finally picked up his jaw, at first he didn't believe when he was at his shop and he received an order for Miso pork ramen...

* * *

It wasn't that the order was strange it was the way the order was to be delivered, as per request they had set the bowl of ramen in the back alley and returned to there shop lo and behold five minutes later they returned to the ally only to find the ramen gone, a payment and a note of thank. This happened twice more over the next two days any by the third day things had started peek there interest. so after they had left the bowl this time instead of returning to the shop as per usual they hide behind back and peak from a small hole, only to see a lone ANBU pick up the bowl and leave; now having been summoned by the Hokage it all made perfect sense as to why it was happening.

After the incident at there shop Naruto didn't feel safe going out anymore. On another note... Naruto for his part couldn't have cared less about being seen right now for Ayame was scratching him behind his ears which was effectively turning him into putty in her hands as he was now on his back having his belly rubbed. Teuchi said nothing but handed tsunade 4000 more yen. Finally after cuddling was over Ayame took a seat next to her father as naruto consumed eight of the largest bowl of ramen he had ever seen. You had to admit seeing a giant fox eating a giant bowl of ramen was...interesting to say the least.

After Naruto had finished he licked his jaws then noticed all eyes were on him, he looked at them and cocked his head as if say what?. The moment was interrupted when Tsunade cleared her throat. "Now as you see before you this was the reason we called you here so-" Tsunade was interrupted by a small spike in chakra as Naruto all of a sudden changed back to his human form..which caused a new round of cuddling from Ayame. Tsunade smirked and gave Teuchi a knowing look who took out his check book and began to write.

After all accounting had been settled Tsunade now sat with a small spectacle in front of her Ayame had seem to refuse to let go of Naruto and now had him sitting in between her legs while she hugged him from behind her arms wrapped loosely about his shoulders what's more he was actually leaning into the embrace. Immediately she knew that he trusted theses two probably more than anyone else in the entire village maybe even more than herself it soon became apparent to her that Naruto was no longer awake and was sleeping softly against Ayame while she gently rubbed his ears so she began to talk with Teuchi.

Ayame had always had a fondness for Naruto for some reason maybe it was because of there closeness in age after all she was only about three years older than him and she had known him for quite some time now, she remembered when she first met Naruto so long ago...

* * *

It was a normal day just like any other like any other as 8-year old Ayame was helping her father in the kitchen when there was a commotion outside. She could here shouts of "Kill the Kyuubi!" and "Where's that damn Demon got too!". Next thing she knew a little boy who couldn't have been more than four ran in behind the curtain and cowered in the corner underneath one of the stools, her father who had turned around to see what was going on locked his eyes instantly on the boy and before Ayame had a chance the look on his face he had jumped over the counter top picked up the boy and jumped back across with a grace she had never known he had. He put the shaking child underneath of the counter and told him not to move and to be quiet no sooner had he this done than a man came in bearing a club he looked around and with a snarl turned around and left only to be caught in the side by five Kunai, he dropped to the ground injured but not dead.

Two ANBU appeared and hosted the injured man up by his arm in front of an old man with white robes and a red hat. Ayame gasped "It's Sandime Hokage."and the old Hokage did not look happy in the least. She couldn't hear what there were saying but she could make out the word silenced from his mouth as ANBU carried the injured man and ten others off before turning and looking at her father with a solemn look who respond with a looked of the same caliber and a nod of the head. The old Hokage smiled and walked off.

Now that all that had been taken care of Teuchi bent down underneath of his countered and gently coax Naruto out so he could have a look at him. The child was still shaking as and he still looked scared. the first thing Teuchi did was place a bowl of pork ramen in front of him "Here ya go kid eat up." he said with a smile. Naruto looked up to this man who had probably just saved his life and said something that surprised Teuchi. "But I can't I don't have any money to pay for it with." Teuchi just smiled and told Naruto not to worry about it. Naruto took the bowl and began eating like a starving dog while Teuchi looked at kid taking in his figure, he had to be around four or five and for him to be this skinny must've meant he hadn't been eating nearly as much as he needed too.

After naruto had finished four more bowls he promptly began to become very sleepy and soon was asleep in front of him a small pile of bowls and Teuchi was approached by two cloaked figures, Ayame was watching Naruto while he slept and didn't pay much attention to the two she had too many questions on her mind like why were those men chasing this poor boy, did he do something wrong? if so what? she was drawn out of her stupor by her fathers gasp and as the two figures turned to leave she caught sight of their eyes one were a strange blue while the other were a strange green...

* * *

Naruto would awaken that morning with a very large stack of free ramen tickets his shelves pack full of instant ramen and a set of pots and pans and Ayame would learn the truth about him. when her father had told her the story of Naruto's birth she at first didn't know what to say or think but her father had said something that got into her. "Naruto is the greatest hero this village has ever seen yet he is the loneliest person in this village". that was all so long ago... Ayame looked at the sleeping blond in her arms she had never really known much about Naruto but what she did know was that he received very little if any physical affection at all when she hugged him he was rigid at first but after a while he relaxed until she sat him between her legs but soon he relaxed into that too.

It was the first time Ayame had hugged him though she could remember wanting to for a long time she wanted to show him that she cared for him and didn't just see as the rest of the villagers did... she wiped a tear from her eye as she could see time when Naruto looked like he was on the verge breaking turning into a living corpse. The words from the villager the rumors the glares all towards on who deserved none of it. She unconsciously held him closer to her self as she began to listen in on her father and Tsunade talk coming in near the end of the conversation.

"So basically Naruto is turning into a spirit fox and seeing as you two are obviously two of the closest people to him I thought that you should have the right to know seeing how life for him isn't going to be getting any easier and he needs all the support he can get." Tsunade finished with a sigh. Teuchi smiled and looked over at Naruto "If only the villagers would see him as the Sandime wanted and yet even though they curse his very existence he doesn't hate them yet wishes to protect them and this village Minato, or should I say Arashi and Kushina would be proud." he said. Tsunade gasped "You Know?!"

Teuchi just leaned back in his chair with a smile on his face. "You mean about Naruto being the son of the Yondime Hokage? Of course, I remember Arashi calling me in the middle of the night whenever Kushina was craving ramen ha ha ha!, and beside with looks and an attitude like that they both left a good mark on him. I knew who he was when I first saw him. But I was really surprised when his... 'uncles' the two Arumietto Battatuosai show up and filled me in on why Naruto was still in the hidden leaf village and not with them in the Mystic Valley. I told them I would help him as best as I could whenever I could." Ayame gaped as her father finished and then looked down at the boy who she was currently cuddling like a plushly and almost had a conniption, luckily her father caught the outburst that was coming and nicked it in the butt as he explained the reasons behind the secrecy of all this information.

Tsunade couldn't help but notice that through all of this Ayame had never let go of Naruto and was in fact holding him closer and decided to poke some fun at it to try and lighten the mood she gave Teuchi a smile as he caught on the Hokage's devious plot. "Teuchi do you think those two would be a good match?". She said while looking at Ayame who looked like a deer in the headlights a blush beginning to form on her face.

"She is holding Naruto awfully close and in such an intimate position too." Teushi smiled and put a hand on his chin. "He does seem awfully comfortable around her and she does like to cuddle with him. Their only three years apart". Now she was really blushing. They abrublty stopped there teasing when they noticed that Naruto was moving a little and then he mumbled something... "Um... Ayame-chan you're... really cute."

"Well now we know what Naruto thinks besides he's such a handsome young man and he's so cute with his little fox ears, oh if only I were your age I wouldn't mind taking a crack at him myself." said Tsunade to the girl who was now in full body blush. Deciding that they had had enough fun for now Tsunade decided to bring the joke to an end. "Well Teuchi-san maybe she doesn't like him like that...right Ayame?". Tsunade said looking towards Ayame with her father doing the same. Ayame on her part didn't say anything and if possible blushed even deeper and hid her face in between Naruto and one of his large bushy tails while holding him completely to herself. The room was once again completely silent as Tsunade and Teuchi got no response from the bright red girl. 'And maybe I could be wrong...' she thought as the girl's head slowly appeared from behind Naruto's tail.

Even though she had kept it a secret Ayame had always harbored a pet crush on Naruto from about the time he was12 but she also knew like most people that Hinata was head over heels in love with him and just recently she had begun to notice the change in him towards her...but that didn't mean she would n't take him for herself if the chance came along in the future. "So Ayame-chan how long has this been going on for?" Tsunade asked genuinely interested. " Um ...since he was twelve." Ayame blurted out so fast that they almost didn't hear her and hid her face behind another of his large bushy tails.

"I know that he may not like me in that way so I've been afraid to tell him...I know that Hinata-san has had a crush on him for longer than me and they are starting to get closer and I would never try to break that for them but I...I-I really do love him." She finished and emerged from behind Naruto's tail beet red and surprisingly doing the Hinata like gesture of poking her fingers together while she hugged him.

Deep in the recess of Naruto's mind the Kyuubi stirred **"Well well well... a new seed has been sown. I wonder how this will turn out for you kit." **he said to the boy sleeping at his right paw. Just then he remembered an old Chinese curse**. **'May you have interesting days.' **"Well kit may you have interesting days because they lie ahead of you.".**

* * *

Hey Guys sorry this one took a lot longer than expected to get up. A lot of bad things have been happening to me lately and I just couldn't seem to catch a break. The worst of witch was my granfatherpassing away. It was very hard for me and I kinda been going through am still am going through to a point a rough time. But I am here to let you know that I have not given up on this story and my others and will see them out to the end

-LMZ


	7. The Fox past and present

I have returned! Ok first off im sorry to everyone who has been waiting for this chapter so long but due to economic and personal reasons I wasn't able to write for quite some time. When the stock market dropped we got hit really bad it was at a point where I was working two jobs seven days a week just to get by and so was my mother, we almost lost our house. Then there was the car accident... Let's just say Someone up there really must like me a lot, though im pretty sure I may have used up all my extra lives with this one being that this is the second time a car was totaled and I crawled out of it untouched. Though finally it seems things have started to look up for us and while we don't have to work like dogs for the time being I wanted to start to write an here are the fruits of my labor! This chapter has been in the making for a couple years so I will warn you the first part of the chapter I wrote while I was still going through depression and some of that may have leaked into the writing but I think it turned out ok, thanks for sticking with me all this way guys. So with out further adieu I introduce you to the next chapter in my epic of To become a Fox.

Disclaimer: I do not Own Naruto If I did I would have written this all into the plot because my story OWNS!

**To Become a Fox:** Chapter 7

The celestial rays of the sun rained downed upon the prone form of a sleeping person, warming his body and enticing him to awaken and greet the new day. Slowly he stirred from his peaceful reprieve of reality and prepared to enter the world of the waking. As his joints started to move and his brain came to half awareness he lay still, as if in trance, as the last vestiges of sleep left him pulling him fully into the world of consciousness .

Naruto awoke from his trance-like state with an odd feeling, as if in the back of his mind something or someone was calling out to him. It wasn't the usual feeling he got when his tenant was calling to him it was more of an maladroit feeling that today something was going to happen, something that would change life as he knew it. Normally he would heed such feelings no concern but today it play upon the fringes of his thoughts. For one he had a dream about _her_...

Why would he have a dream about _her_... he hadn't had one in over six years...it was vexing.

He pushed it out of his mind as he rose to a sitting position and raised himself off the edge of the bed. He had another long day to face today, though he'd rather not, the memories of incident at the ramen shop a few day ago playing fresh on his mind. Since the incident at the ramen shop naruto had become like a shadow of his former self.

Gone was the happy go lucky smile he once had, gone was attitude that made him stand out. He had literally become like a ghost...or if one looked at it that way he became more like shinobi. If anyone were to see him it'd only be for a few seconds before he disappeared into the shadows and if by some chance anyone were to run into him he would vanish into the crowd without so much as a hello and finding him was impossible. Finally deciding that he had staved off the inevitable long enough he made his way to the window before applying his henge then silently slipping out with an animal like grace as he steeled himself to absorb the hate and loathing of the village pushing the image of _her_ out of his head once more, he was hungry.

* * *

Like Most ninja villages there were many, many secrets so the fact that the two legendary warriors were in town was of course secret...meaning just about everyone knew about it. Word spreads fast but even faster in a ninja village. As Naruto walked in the shadows of the streets under his henge he could tell something was different. Today he didn't receive the usual stare, glares and venom that he was so accustomed to, no today he got sideways glances and veiled whispers. No indeed today he was getting something else something that puzzled him, even more so when his advanced hearing caught the voice of two gossiping women at the shop to his side. "Look it's him!" one said oblivious to Naruto's advanced hearing. "I know but what in the world would they want with a demon like him." the entire conversation sent a chill down Naruto's spine as the earlier feeling that something significant was going to happen struck back tenfold. Now more than ever Naruto was confused. What in the world were they talking about and why did it make his hair stand on end? More importantly who were "They" an why did they want him?

As he walked down the now crowded street he ducked into the alley, the feeling of all the stares and whispers becoming quite unnerving. He was used to glares and venom but this new pattern made him uneasy and so were these references of him and "Them". Just who were 'They' anyway?...and why did he feel such an ominous presence in the village today... Before he could think more on the latter his tenant reached out to him. **"Kit be on your guard I sense two extremely powerful forces in the vicinity.**" Naruto wearily nodded his head feeling the ominous presence of these two powerful entities growing larger as he made way to his destination...

Elsewhere as Sakura was walking down the street deep in thought she was jogged out of her trance by someone calling her name, it was Ino and she was running at her with full speed. Bringing her full attention to her longtime friend and rival Sakura raised her hand in a simple greeting before Ino stopped in front of her, catching her breath for a second she addressed the pink haired medical ninja."Sakura have you heard?" asked the blond kunoichi with the excitement of a giddy schoolgirl. Ino was almost jumping up and down and she had the look of a child who had just won a twenty pound bag of candy.

Sakura was clueless as to what her blond friend was talking about she had been at the hospital most of the day when Tsunade had relieved her of her duty for the day stating that she needed some time off. As such she couldn't have been outside for more than twenty minutes and had yet to hear of the news. "Heard what Ino?". asked Sakura in clueless tone. Ino just stared at her mouth agape for a second before grabbing her wrist and taking off towards the center of town pulling Sakura along like a rag doll despite the frantic medic ninja pleas to release her.

"It's them their really here!" gushed Ino all the while pulling a still clueless and flailing Sakura. "Who's them and where are we going?"asked Sakura now slightly resisting the death hold Ino had on her wrist. "You really haven't heard? It's the Aruimetto Hitokiri there here in the center of town!". This stopped all resistance from Sakura as her mind went crazy with the prospect of seeing the two legendary warriors in the flesh. Now it was she who was pulling as Ino held on for dear life, neither one knowing that today would mark the beginning of a epic change in there lives.

As Li and Kai walked down the main street in their cloaks with the hoods down people would stop what they were doing and become entranced. A waitress stared at them open mouth with a slight blush while the tea she was pouring poured out of the teapot overfilling the cup and falling onto the lap of her patron in a continuos stream. Said patron paid no attention to the hot tea spilling onto his lap as he was also entranced though for a different reason. This was much the same at every shop they passed but they heeded it no attention there minds set on there destination...

The word that they had entered the Hidden leaf village had spread so fast that by now almost everyone in the entire village had been buzzing about it for quite some time. This could further be reinforced by the fact that there were a lot more people than usual on this particular road today, some with a more different focus than others. Although the two made no pretense of knowing they were well aware that they were being followed without ever breaking eye contact from the path in front of them, they even knew how many and where they were at. "Hmm there's thirty of them."said Kai. "Twelve of them are ANBU; an observation squad, seven of the Konoha eleven an three more ANBU with a couple Jounin who are just curious as to what we are doing here." Said Li never changing his facial expression. Oh well they thought they weren't here for them they had a fox to find...

* * *

Sakura and Ino cut through the people an alleyways until they found themselves on the same road as LI and Kai with less then twenty feet separating them. In their mad rush to glimpse the two they had overshot and instead of ending up on their side they ended up in front of them. What they saw shocked them.. The two legendary warriors...they were two of the most handsome men Sakura and Ino ( who would latter go on to call them the hottest thing on two legs) had ever seen! They were nothing like they had pictured them, which was looking way older and more... well scary. They didn't look to be that much older than they were! As they stood gaping they didn't notice that they had caught the pairs attention and they were no moving towards them. Only when they were right in front of them did this trance break.

"Hello Sakura-san, Ino-san might one of you two know where Naruto is?" asked Kai with his mysterious smile flashing. Ino just shuck her head slowly still entranced. Sakura not wanting to be useless in front of the two legends thought it be best if she at least said something, never mind how they knew their names. "I haven't seen Naruto lately but if I had to guess the best place to find him would be at Ichiraku ramen stand thats where I usually find him." she said.

Li and Kai both smiled before addressing Sakura and Ino again. "Thank you Sakura-san we'll take a look there." said Kai flashing that mysterious smile. Before heading off Li addressed them "We'll meet again...soon." he said with his own equally mysterious smile before joining Kai. Sakura and Ino just stood watching their retreating backs. Slowly their hands drifted up to each other's cheek, pinching until they had the satisfying feel of the flesh of the other. When that was done they turned to each other and smiled, then letting out a classic schoolgirl screech they dissolved into fits of 'I cant believe it', 'Oh sweet Kami they are hot', 'Wait till we tell the others!' and other such whatnot.

As Naruto walked through the shadows of the alleyway a shrill cry caught his ears. He quickly snapped his head towards the source, a little girl who had skinned her knee in a fall. As Naruto watched from the shadows a man he assumed to be her father walked over to the little girl gently picking her up and comforting her until her tears finally stopped. To anyone else it would have been a heart warming scene but to Naruto it only served to dig up painful memories. It reminded him of the winter when he was four and the Sandime had to go away on a trip. That was the coldest winter in his life...

It was...cold...so cold.

* * *

It was the middle of winter in the Land of Fire and it was experiencing a rarity...snow. In the village of Konoha a small child walked the streets alone his blond hair dirty and tussled, the wind chilling him all the way through to the marrow. Sandime Hokage had been called away on an urgent matter that was expected to take at least three weeks to deal with. It had only been two days when countless villagers and shinobi descended on him like a murder of crows. There were so many of them... he couldn't remember the faces all he could remember was the pain. The feel of fists and kicks, the pain of blades, the blunt forces...the burn of fire. They shouted at him words his four year old mind didn't understand. "Demon!","murderer" "Kyuubi". He wasn't sure how he got away all he remembered were two cloaked figures and then he crawled to his feet and ran. He ran as fast as he could as far as he could.

That was two days ago... Now this child walked down the cold streets of konoha tired, hungry, alone and freezing. He knew not to return to his home as it was likely destroyed or worse laden with traps as it was last time, some of his worn clothes still carried scorch marks and blood...his own blood. Why? What was wrong with him? Did he do something bad that he didn't know about? Why were they always trying to hurt him what did he do? All questions the young child had thought about time and time again. Sometimes he wished it would all just go away. He wished he could just disappear into nothingness never to come again. The snow was falling gently and the streets were now barren the people retreating into their home to escape the icy zephyrs that blew through the night time air, hardly anyone noticed or paid attention to the small child that made his way through the gently falling snow in search of asylum.

As he was walking down those wind bitten, desolate snowy streets he heard something piercing the silence. Drawing closer to the source, a window, he was able to discern it as singing. As he drew closer to the window from which the melody drifted he could see it was a small family. A man, a woman an a small girl with bright green eyes about his age were gathered around a table warm and happy. He watched as the child clapped her hands as her father placed a cake lit aglow with candles in front of her and her mother. As Naruto watched the scene play out before him he felt as if he wasn't supposed to be there, he felt as if this was something he wasn't suppose to have... a family. He was always alone, unwanted and loathed. Since he was hated so much he didn't deserve to have a family that what he thought.

Not more than two seconds after thinking this did the Father notice him staring through the window. Naruto ran as the door to the house opened. "Get outta here you damn demon!" yelled the man as he sent a kunai speeding at the retreating child his eyes full of rage and loathing. Naruto yelled out as he felt the kunai tear a large gash in his right arm, the warmth of his blood serving only to quicken his pace. He pushed himself to run faster, farther as blood leaked down his arm until he could run no more and came to a stop in an alleyway collapsing against a garbage can. He couldn't feel his arm anymore but when he looked he saw that the gash was slightly glowing red and it had stopped bleeding. He put his head against the garbage can and slowly closed his eyes the loss of so much blood combine with the freezing temperature starting to overcome him. His body ached from the cuts and bruises and was quickly becoming numb. His clothes bloodied and charred offered little protection from the snow that was beginning to pile on him. He had long since lost his shoes, his bare feet cut to ribbons, blackened with blood and dirt.

He was just hovering on the edges of consciousness when he felt as if he was floating and he then became very warm like he was wrapped in a blanket or a cloak... he cracked his eyes open and though blurry he could make out that he was being carried by someone while another person walked in front of them. Maybe now he would get to disappear, maybe now he would get to go to a world that wasn't so cold. Finally he gave into will to sleep as darkness overtook him.

He couldn't even remember the next three days it was all a blur he was in an out of consciousness. On the fourth day he woke up in a new bed in a new apartment and Sandime was asleep in a chair next to his bed...the following week he met Ayame an Tuechi...

Naruto was shaken out of his memories by the sound of laughter coming from the little girl as her father lifted her high into the sky while she giggled like only a child could. Naruto now in a more depressed mood continued on his way slinking back into the shadows. The last of the ghostly memories slowly left as he continued on, it was at times like this he wished he could be someone else.

* * *

Hinata had awoken quite a bit earlier than Naruto had and had rushed off into the forest behind the compound to train herself in the waterfall, it was now mid day and she was starting her way back to the compound when she was taken prisoner by the group of Ino, Sakura Ten-Ten and the boys. One second she was walking along an the next she was being hauled through the air like a side of beef. "S-Sakura-san p-please put me down!". Hinata fussed as she wriggled on Ino's and Sakura's shoulder.

Twisting her around so that she was one her feet Sakura gave her a pointed look as she shushed her. "Sshhh Hinata-chan be quiet or else they'll hear us." she chided the girl. "Besides we want to know what they want with Naruto." said Tenten with a mischievous smile. That instantly got Hinata's attention as she blushed, but then something pulled her out of her short lived daydream... who were 'they'? As Ino filled her in instead of being ecstatic like the rest of the girls Hinata was growing worried. What connection did Naruto have with those two? It just didn't seem right... an image of Naruto in his fox form flashed through her mind. Did it have something to do with that she wondered so deep in thought that she hadn't heard Tenten almost yelling her name. "Hinata!" yelled Tenten again waving a hand in front of her face.

"Wah!... um huh?" said Hinata as she cocked her head leaving Tenten to sigh. "I said wonder what they would want with Naruto of all people, I mean no offense I know he's strong an all but he doesn't strike me as someone important enough to warrant their attention." Hinata looked down her eyes focused on the ground. Once again the image of Naruto in his fox form played trough her mind. 'No your wrong naruto isn't just strong he's...-' Images of him taking care of the Sound ninja flooded her head followed by scenes of their tree skipping and finally the memory of seeing him shining in the moonlight his cerulean blue eyes like jewels, crimson fur as vibrant like the setting sun as the wind blew in the secret garden. . '...he's...amazing.'

Else where said fox was feeling less than amazing as he slunk through the dark alley ways sliding along with the pace of an old snail. At last his destination was in view as he surveyed from the shadows the Ichiraku ramen shop. Normally busy, now in the early afternoon hours the shop was desolate and the streets in front of it bare...perfect. Naruto knew that there would be no one around at this time of day as he made his way out of the shadows into the ramen shop taking a seat closest to the wall. Ayame who had been running the shop alone today spotted him as he entered in from outside, she then made her way to the front of the shop pulled the blinds down placing a out to lunch sign up before entering back in. Once there she took a seat next to Naruto and pulled him into an embrace gently stroking his ears as he had let his henge fall.

"Thank you." she heard from him as he leaned into the hug the almost unheard sentiment bringing a tear to her eyes. He didn't deserve this, he didn't deserve any of it, wasn't his life hard enough? Why? Why did he have to be put through so much? She thought to herself as she rested her head on top of his. Things had gotten harder in the last few days ...so much harder. If it weren't for Tsunade, Jiriya, Shizune Iruka even Ayame and Tuechi, Naruto didn't know where or what he'd be. They were his precious people an not just them to mention. Everyone one of the Konoha eleven were precious to him, though there was something there something that ebbed it's way into the back of his mind that kept them from becoming as close to them as the others. He couldn't quite understand what it was but it was strong ,very strong maybe on a subconscious level he recognized it but for now it eluded him. His precious people they were everything to him but how would they treat him if they knew?. An image flashed through his mind, him in his fox form shadowed by the Kyuubi. He shuddered and in response Ayame held him closer to her almost as if trying to protect him from some unknown force.

Though the action bought relief to Naruto it also stirred up the unpleasant memory of why his recent drop in morale had occurred. He had long ago came to the conclusion that the more he stayed around people in the village the more bad things seemed to happy to him...and to them. It was the morning after his transformation. He had been brought directly to the tower at the orders of Tsunade. It couldn't have been more than two hours later after the ANBU recovery team had left that Iruka 'subtly' came to visit him. He gave a small smirk at the memory of Iruka nearly pulling the door of it's hinges and plowing through the chunin and more surprisingly the ANBU that had been stationed to guard him like a man possessed, while Tsunade tried to calm the frantic man assuring him that Naruto was alright.

* * *

It had been with Iruka who he had practiced his henge with. Although Naruto had transformed physically he hadn't really changed at all, mind the ears, tails and feet. Though there was a small change in his chakra it had changed slightly it felt more natural, more...animalistic. Though it wasn't a very large change it still managed to knock him off balance in terms of his jutsu. His new chakra turned out to be a little bit...ok a lot easier to use, which explained the massively over charged jutsu. Meaning it was only like that because he wasn't used to having so much chakra flowing and it was hard to have control over it. That's where Iruka came in ,he was with Naruto almost everyday and night helping him for endless hours giving advice and his input.

By the end of the week they had successfully managed a henge that hid his fox features and with much pleading managed to get Tsunade to agree to letting Naruto out of the tower, which had become his impromptu home, for a while. By now Naruto had known his home had been destroyed. It happened on the night he had transformed in the confusion after the destruction of the invading force some group had torched his apartment and everything in it. The only thing that made it out was his picture of team seven back in there genin days, but to him that was all he needed though.

As the day continued on Naruto was experiencing a new level of venom from the people and although he tried to hide it so was Iruka for walking with the demon. Even still Iruka was stubborn and very strong willed. Where he was met with glares he glared back, where they gave him looks of distaste he sent them smiles walking with dignity and pride next to Naruto who had his head slightly lowered spirits still low. As Iruka noticed he leaned over to Naruto and said something that would make that day go a lot easier for him. "Naruto I know it's bad right now but don't pay them any attention right now, ne? Today lets not think about the village or even the problems your facing let just think about enjoy the day an if they have problem with it then you tell them they can kiss your furry nine-tailed ass believe it!" he said finishing with a laugh an thumbs up. That simple joke was all Naruto needed and slowly a small bout of giggles started before turning into to full fledged laughter between the two.

Ans so the day went on they paid no attention to the villagers and went about their business having a great time as they did, for Naruto it was nice just to hang out with Iruka as they used to and it was likewise for Iruka. As the day drew to a close he and Iruka sat at the ramen shop with Tuechi and Ayame enjoying a free meal as it was a cause to celebrate on Naruto's being outside for the first time in ages. It was an idyllic day which had turned into a beautiful night as Iruka and Naruto said their goodbyes and each went their respective paths. Naruto walked into the tower with a smile on his face and was immediately greeted by a smiling Shizune and Tsunade who he recounted his day to getting a laugh out of them when he told them what Iruka had proposed what he should say to the villagers.

Finally feeling the pull of sleep Naruto began to ascend the stairs to his room leaving Shizune and Tsunade to talk a little longer before they too would be heading to their own respective rooms. He was half way up the stairs when he stopped, his henge dropping leaving his tails to fan out pointing straight like pokers whilst his ears cocked back. Tsunade and Shizune dropped there conversation at the sudden spike in chakra they felt from him as his henge fell. "Naruto what's wrong!" Tsunade said feeling adrenaline start to flow preparing herself. Naruto said nothing but in a instant he was in his fox form and through the window by Shizune. Not even two seconds later ANBU had flooded the room at the ready only to be ordered by Tsunade to follow the fox, that he would lead them to the trouble and she would be joining them. As Naruto raced across the town his mind was in panic, he had stopped because he had heard a pained yell that he was positive belonged to Iruka and then he smelled blood and smoke, and where there smoke there's fire. Which was why he was racing across the village as fast as he could not caring who saw him his mind focused on only one thing...Iruka.

As he soon as he had left to tower he had spotted the fire's bright glow in the night sky and as he came upon it now he could see how truly big it was. The whole of Iruka's home had been caught up in the blaze and there lying bruised and bloodied not more than ten feet away from the flames was Iruka. The sight sent Naruto into overdrive moving faster he grabbed Iruka just as a section of the house collapsed threatening to crush him under it's fiery blaze. After managing to get Iruka a safe distance away from the fire he looked back up into the blaze a sickening feeling washing over him...this was his fault. If Iruka hadn't been with him none of this would have happened to him. So caught up was he in his thoughts that he didn't even notice the ANBU arrive and started to put out the blaze only when Tsunade had appeared and began checking Iruka over did he snap out of his stupor. Turning to look down upon the blonde sannin as she worked he once again felt the feeling of guilt wash over him as she worked her glowing green hands over Iruka's body.

Tsunade sighed as she wiped the sweat from her brow looking back down at Iruka. "Luckily there's nothing that a few days in the hospital won't take care of but it would have been a lot worse if you didn't pull him away from the fire Naruto". She said looking at the fox not knowing how right she was. The image of the falling section of the house still fresh in his mind as he gave a small unnoticed shudder shaking a small bit of darkness away from his ash tainted crimson coat as he leveled his blue orbs toward the still unconscious Iruka. Even though Tsunade had told him that Iruka was none worse for wear he could tell...he could feel...feel that she wasn't telling him the whole truth, as if trying to let him feel easier about it ,as if he was reading her thoughts. He could feel from her that if he hadn't come then there was a good chance that Iruka wouldn't be alive right now but she didn't want him to know that.

Even though he appreciated the sentiment it was all too clear for him that Iruka had almost been killed and he knew the reason was because Iruka had associated with him. The pain that welled up in his heart was like a knife and brought questions from the darkness of his mind. Who was next? If this happened to Iruka who else would it happen to? His friends an anyone who associated with him they were all at risk. Ayame, Tuechi even Jiryia Tsunade and Shizune all of them were at risk because of who he was, what he was...which meant he could no longer exist as he had.

It is said that in order to protect something sometime you must distance yourself from that something. It was with that determination and sadness that Naruto turned towards the moon and leapt into the night air the wind rushing by him so fast it almost obscured sorrowful calls of his name...almost.

That had been merely a week ago which brought Naruto to where he was now on the downward slope of depression slipping deeper and deeper into the abyss.

* * *

Tsunade sighed as she set aside her paperwork for the first time in the day. Naruto was out of the tower and that meant he was out of her comfort zone which had even Shizune looking slightly on edge. Her hand held a slight tenseness in it that one who didn't know her well enough would miss. Even though Tsunade had made sure Iruka's attacker's had been captured and silenced as well as appointing ANBU guards for Ayame and Tuechi, Naruto had already reached a point of no return in his ever deteriorating condition. He was transforming on a regular basis, his chakra was changing and all about him was an aura of depression, he barley even left the tower any more except for some nights when he transformed. She hoped she would be able to do something soon to bring him out of his depression but she was at a loss, they could only do so much.

Then there was the thoughts that plagued her mind playing over and over again in her head. What if someone tried to attack one of Naruto's friend's again? She was doubtful that he would just sit around the second time and let it happen. If it came to that would Naruto act to protect his friends?; 'Yes.'she thought. In her mind it was a certain fact that he would but what would happen afterwards? Would he be ostracized by his friends? How would he take it ,furthermore what if he left the village? That was what she feared the most not losing the nine-tailed fox or even an extremely powerful ninja but losing one of the brightest sources of hope and encouragement in her life. Sighing again she put her head down to her desk, no matter how much she tried she couldn't get it off her mind, it was like this every time he went outside. She looked out to the village and the sun was shining brightly.

She wished it had rained today...

* * *

As Ayame began to release Naruto she wiped the tears from her eye and put on a smile for him, though he could tell she was crying the simple fact that she cared was enough to raise Naruto's spirit even if it was just a little bit.. But it brought with it a memory. Lavender eyes like two giant pearls filled with tears as she hugged him begging him not to leave. As his eyes looked to Ayame he realized that in that respect he had gained one more person who had endeared themself into his heart. Then his stomached rumbled...loudly effectively breaking the tender moment to pieces as a blush lit up his face and for the first time in what seemed like month he smile."I'm hungry." he muttered in an monotone while Ayame stared to chuckle.

"So let's get something to eat then huh?" she said as the last of the chuckles died down. She set to work cooking a small smile on her face as she caught sight of the blush he tried in vain to hide. A little bit of the dreariness had been lifted from him and it seemed like he was better if only a little bit. Oh what she would give to see him happy again she thought as she placed two large bowls on the counter top, one containing pork for him and vegetables for her. His ears perked as she sat down next to him again, his eyes following her every move a slight bit of surprise on his face. She gave a small pout "What? A girl's got to eat to you know, how else do you expect me to keep this figure." she finished with a wink setting Naruto's face on fire again.

'Well she does have a nice figure...' thought Naruto as he fought to keep his eyes on his food an not the girl beside him but he couldn't help glancing from the corners of his eyes he was slowly able to take in her form. He had always thought that Ayame was pretty and though he had known her for the good majority of his life Naruto had never really looked at Ayame as the women she truly was. The thought may have popped up in his head sometime but he never really paid any attention to it. Turning to the nth degree he was now almost fully facing her as she ate unaware of his appraising eyes as they scanned over her body.

She was a shorter than him now..maybe five or six inches. Her figure was trim and toned but not overly so, her legs long and slender, her waist finely cut. As his eyes slowly raised he noted the dip at her hips before continuing over to her taunt stomach and up to her well rounded breast. She had a perfect hour glass figure thought Naruto before continuing on. As his eyes settled on her face he took in all the details from a her beautiful eyes to her cute nose and her long hair. He stopped there as he tried to place the color of it...most people would say it was brown or maybe even auburn but if one looked closely you see her hair color was neither but a fusion of light auburn and burnt sienna, very beautiful.

Her complection was another eye catcher. While Hinata's smooth porcelain skin had an almost milky tone to it giving her an almost pearl like glow, Ayame's skin tone seemed to have a more of a butter cream tone with a hint of caramel giving her a more rustic down to earth beauty. Naruto was now openly staring at her as she ate, looking at her for the first time as the women she was truly. "Beautiful." he mutter under his breath. He was compelled to take in her beauty a for a bit longer and would have if is she hadn't turned faced him with a questioning look on her face.

"Naruto aren't you going to eat?" she spoke as her eyes met his and he was snapped out of his daze, turning to his ramen as a deep scarlet veil fell upon his face not trusting his mouth to speak properly at the moment. Ayame smiled to herself as a blush lit up her own face, she had seen him out of the corner scoping her and had caught it when he muttered she was beautiful. It made her heart flutter to think about it, he had said she was beautiful! Right now she felt as if she could just float away... the rest of there meal was eaten in a comfortable silence the last traces of red slowly fading from their faces.

With the issue of his hunger now settled Naruto was in higher spirits as he now prepared to leave the small ramen establishment that had sustained him for nearly all his life. Raising his henge as Ayame opened the shop once again he prepared to bid her farewell when he froze like a scared puppy. It was that same ominous feeling he had felt earlier only much close this time... almost like it was right behind him! He whirled around only to come face to face with two cloaked figures.

On the roof tops everyone was holding their breath as Naruto turned to face the two they had been following. Ayame noticing that Naruto hadn't said goodbye to her turned and let out a gasp, the bowl she was drying shattered upon impact with the ground. It was them! The two she had seen her father talking too when he had hid Naruto all those years ago! It was like time had come to a stop the clouds ceased to move, the birds cut there chatter and even the very air seemed still as this moment happened.

The silence was almost regal as both Kai and Li moved forward to address Naruto. Kai was the first to break the silence with a simple greeting. "Naruto it's been awhile how are you doing?" Naruto for his part looked confused did he know these two? "Don't tell me you forgot about us already?" said Li in a jovial voice. As naruto looked at them he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him until he noticed that one thing, their eyes those mysterious shades blue and green eyes. He could never forget those eyes or who they belonged to...

* * *

Little Naruto sat alone on a swing outside in the park slowly moving back and forth as his little legs pushed against the sand. The park was quiet in the absence of children many of who's parent were preparing them for the festival. To day was the day that naruto any other the day of the defeat of the nine-tailed fox and the death of the fourth Hokage. On this day he spent most of his time in hiding from adults, that's why he had come tot the park. At midday the park was empty and would remain so for the rest of the day. But it wasn't the day that he was worried about once night came he'd have to find somewhere else to hide and stay awake at until the sun came up then he'd be able to go back home. He shook as he remembered what had happened last year. He didn't want that to happen again.

He was broken out of his musings by the sound of footstep coming toward him. He looked up into two pairs of eyes one green and one blue. These two adults they were different he couldn't say why but he felt safe around them like he was being protected which is why he didn't run upon seeing as he normally would... "Hello Naruto." Said the blue eyed one with a smile.

With the innocence that only a child can posses Naruto asked. "How did you know my name?" His blue eyes full of wonder. The green eyed one smile and leaned down and cupped his hands. "A little bird told us it." He said as he opened them and a canary flew into air circling above there heads. "Wow!" little Naruto exclaimed as he looked up at the bird that had just came from nowehere. Li smiled as Naruto watched the bird. "He also told us that today is your birthday, Naruto is there anything you would like to do today?".

* * *

Naruto smiled as he ate the rest of his ramen, today had been the best birthday ever Kai ji-san and Li ji-san were really fun! They had played in the park. Showed hims some more magic and for the first time he went to the festival and no one bothered him it was like he was a different person. But the best moment came when the fire works were about to start they had left the streets and climbed to the top of the Hokage's tower.

For Naruto it was the most spectacular thing he had ever saw, it almost felt like he could reach out and grab the moon as the night sky burst with explosion of color. It didn't end there though that night they stayed with him during the night making sure he slept well with no interruptions in his home. For the next two weeks they were with him teaching him things answering his childish questions an they even signed and talked to the hokage about getting him into the academy! In the end they had stayed with him for just about two weeks but for Naruto it felt like he had known them forever.

On the day they had to depart naruto cried till his little was face red and he couldn't cry anymore. "It's ok Naruto we'll be back in a few months." Kai said trying to comfort the upset child, truth be told he nor Li wanted to leave Naruto either. But I don't want you to go it's lonely's here and nobody will play with me." Said Naruto. "Hey Naruto before we go we have one more gift for you." Kai said as he motioned to his cloak which rustled. Naruto move forward childish curiosity taking him over. The cloak rustled again and a white blur sprang at knocking Naruto to the ground. "Ahhh! It's eating me!". Naruto screamed as his face was assaulted by a rather large white fox kit.

"Her name is Tama, but she won't mind if you call her Tama-chan." at that the fox kit, conveniently located on Naruto's chest now known as Tama stopped and gave Kai a look. We want you to take care of her for a while for us ok? With that he and Li turned and started walking away. "We'll see you later Naruto!" called Kai.

"Take good care of each other". Called Li as they finally disappeared from view, vanished as if with the wind... Naruto looked to the fox kit who was sitting upon his chest, she cocked her head as if asking 'what?'. "Umm Tama-chan can you get off me please?". the sun had already dipped below the horizon as they neared Naruto's home in one of the poorer parts of village and entered into the building...it was dark.

Naruto hated the dark.

He could always feel IT when it was dark. He didn't know what IT was but IT terrified him. He could feel it's presence in the dark, sometime he would run up the stairs to his apartment never turning to look back for fear of the darkness that crept upon him. Other times he could feel IT watching him in the darkness of the night, sometimes he could see IT's eyes out of the corner of his own but whenever he turned to look there wasn't anything there.. IT's eyes were scary, terrifying even but that wasn't the worst of it... On the darkest nights he could hear IT breathing...like he did now, deep jagged breaths that carried for seconds at a time flowing about his ears as if the abomination was right behind him staring, waiting.

He was wide awake fear gripping him, pulling him deeper into its depths paralyzing him with it's cold grasp. He was so scared that he almost didn't notice the soft light from the corner of his eyes. As his vision centered in on the glow he found that it was coming from the fox kit that had crawled into bed with him. She was glowing albeit dimly but glowing none the less. That little bit of light was enough to snap Naruto out of his fears and gaze with eyes full of wonder at Tama. "So pretty..." he said in a daze like voice unaware that the fox kit was had turned to him and as if she was blushing and trying to hide it by putting her paws over her muzzle. By this time Naruto had forgotten all about IT and had snuggled up to Tama and slowly began drifting to sleep, the last thing he remebered was feeling like a pair of arms were hugging him and something furry by his feet then nothing.

* * *

_**DREAM SEQENCE**_

He was...dreaming...but it all felt so real to him. Yet... things made no sense here so he had to be dreaming right?

He was himself that he was sure of but the girl in front of him... she smiled to him her crystal blue eye sparkling as her snowy white hair fluttered in the wind accented by fox ears and a tail of the same color. Whoever she was...whatever she was he felt as if he knew her, as if he had met her before in some other time and place. She looked to be about his age but... Nothing made sense... they were running, playing together in a large field of flowers where the moon was visible high in the sky. He stopped to look up at it... his eyes slowly fell back to her she smiled and held out her hand as another zephyr blew across the field an then everything went hazy as he felt himself being pulled out of the world of sleep and dreaming.

* * *

It there he waited on the precipice of the waking world as the corporeal feeling of warmth slid across his cheek taking him the final few steps into the waking world. He yawned wiping away the last traces of sleep when he felt that warmth at this cheek again but this time it was followed by a weight being place over his mid-section like someone had put a bag of sand on him or some really big books, he opened his eyes and sky blue met ice blue, or Tama could just be laying on him...

After another round of lick Naruto's face off she removed herself from his chest and now sat on her haunches opposite naruto who sat cross legged in front of her. The conundrum he now faced was immense...what did foxes eat? This little problem had come about by the rumbling of his stomach earlier as he had went ahead and made a bowl of ramen but had stopped himself from eating it for one reason, which was staring at him right now giving off a "Did you forget about me?" type aura.

Li and Kai hadn't really told him much about how to take care of Tama and he had no clue how to take care of a fox. He guessed it would be somewhat like a dog but he had never taken care of a dog either having never owned a pet or allowed o be near one. The more he thought about it the more the stranger it seemed the both his uncles would leave him with no references for taking care of Tama. He was startled out of thought by a tapping at his window, it was a bird, a very large bird making it's self known to him.

Naruto slowly steeped up to the window on which the bird, a snow white falcon, had perched. He didn't understand why but he felt as if it was here for him so he slowly opened the window and the falcon hopped down from the ledge and onto his window sill there it ruffled it's feathers a bit and stooped plucking at it's back where what seemed to be a message was attached. Pulling the message from it's back the falcon dropped it at it's feet gave a shrill cry and flew off into the sky. Naruto being the curious child that he was picked up the letter and opened it and to his surprise it was completely blank!...at least for a few seconds.

As he held the paper in his hands words began appearing being followed by voice overs of the two princes.

"Naruto were so sorry we had to leave so soon but there was something very important that we needed to do. We will be back to visit you again in two months time but in the meantime take care of Tama and get to know each other better she's a very special fox and we're sure you two can learn a lot form each other. Make sure you take her outside and play with her, brush her fur and give her lots of attention, she really likes you so we're hopping you two get along. As we said earlier she is quite a special fox and feeding her won't be a problem, she can eat anything you can. So take care of each other an we'll see you in two months! Oh and we almost forgot we talked to the Hokage and when you turn six you'll be starting at the ninja academy so give it your all!".

With that the letter ended and Naruto barley suppressed a loud yell. He was going to be starting at the ninja academy! He was so happy that he'd forgotten about being hungry until his stomach reminded him that it required food. He turned back to his bowl of ramen only to find that it was empty...

"Ahh my ramen!" he cried tears streaming down his eyes comically. He turned his gaze to Tama who sat on her haunches lone noodle on her muzzle giving him a "What?" look as she cocked her head. 'Well at least I know what she eat's now.' he thought slightly exasperated. After the account had been settled with his stomach he set forth outside intent on following the instructions left by Kai and Li. This was how there mornings would go for the next month until one day when things took a little bit of a detour...

It had began the day before it had rained, rather hard at that, which had left the grounds of the park rather muddy and like most kid and animals Naruto and Tama were covered in it, so much so that the latter looked like a earthen sculpture come to life not a trace of white fur left upon the once pristine coat. After a very long soak and the changing of the water a couple time the fox was back to her normal, although now very puffy looking, self a sight which Naruto found extremely humorous.

He nearly died in a fit of giggles as Tama gave a low growl to him not in the lest bit amused, which made him laugh all the harder. It was very hard to intimidate someone when you looked like a walking cloud with eyes. The end result of all this was that for the rest of the day Tama effectively snubbed him.

Though he tried multiple times to appease her, she would turn up her nose at each attempt. One of the many things that Naruto had learned from his time with Li and Kai was that most women were very sensitive about there looks even if they don't seem like it or say so. So he should always be kind and never say anything bad about how they, or anyone else for that matter, looks... though there was a major focus on women for some reason...

* * *

. "Naruto though you are young you should always treat women with respect and dignity. A lot of women and even girls are very sensitive about how they look so always tell the that they look pretty if they ask." Later that day the had went for ramen where they had found a unhappy Ayame at the counter. She was unhappy because she thought she didn't look pretty in her kitchen ware. "I think Nee-chan always looks pretty." Naruto replied truthfully with a big smile earning him a blush and some extra ramen.

Although Tama was a fox she was still a girl, what's more she could clearly understand what he was saying to her as he had found out over the last month...

At any rate the white cloud that was Tama had now settled herself dead center on the futon so maybe now was a good time to apply some of what he had learned. After much brushing and many compliments she seemed slightly less mad at him for the time being but still continued to snub him as she refused to move out the center of the futon, which made sleeping a little more difficult that night.

That night the girl in his dream snubbed him too.

The following morning it was clear that she had forgiven him but was still somewhat mad with him, which lasted until breakfast was over. Today she seemed rather jumpy as they walked through the town. Lately Naruto was getting a lot more harsh stares and people were saying more mean things to him but she had a feeling it was because of her.

She took off running with Naruto close on her heels calling out to her. She led him through the streets and past the richer district of the town an into the woods were she disappeared into a patch of dense foliage. Naruto was panting now as he pushed past bushes and briars only to come face to face with the girl from his dreams...sorta.

She looked exactly the same except her ears were normal and she had no tail. Upon seeing Naruto the little girl smiled an ran off with Naruto in hot pursuit. If she was in the bushes the she would have seen which way Tama went, so he followed. He couldn't remember how long he chased her but he stopped as he came to a line of trees which opened up into a meadow of flowers. Slowly he stepped into the field and was overcome by a sense of deja vu as he looked up at the visible moon then back down to the girl who stood no more than six feet away. It was exactly like his dream. She smiled and slowly held out her hand. "Hi my name is Tama". This girl was...different he couldn't tell how but she was. And so began a beautiful but somewhat strange friendship.

* * *

As Naruto would come to find out in the following weeks, Tama knew just about everything about him. She was also very energetic as the two would often play in the meadow (which strangely was the only place he could ever find her) for hours on end before falling to the ground giggling. In addition to that she would sometimes walk with Naruto into town, a feat that most parents would never allow, let alone happen with Naruto. There was but one thing that especially stood out about the whole situation with Tama though, Naruto for the life if him could never find his beloved fox kit whenever he went to play with Tama. He often wondered what she would be doing all alone for hours at a time but whenever he was finished playing with the other Tama she would appear in high spirits and greet him with excited yapping and a wet tongue.

Still Naruto being the curious child that he was soon began to weigh this fact more and more heavily on his mind, though those heavy ponderings were quickly remedied when he met Tama's mother for the first time...

It had started out like any other play date for Naruto and Tama but today Tama had grabbed his hand and was pulling him through the wood near the richer district of town thought he had asked where they were going multiple times the little girls only answer was a excited smile and that it was only a little further. Abruptly the trees began to change and so did the animals and plant life, he was seeing plants and creatures he had never seen before an he was beginning to wonder just where they were at. Eventually the trees began to thin and they found themselves in front of a large Yamato style gate. It held a large spiral in it's crest and stood to be about ten feet high, even Naruto in his childish eyes could tell that this gate was very old and seemingly alien, but it felt familiar...

Not just that but this whole area of the forest felt strange and it exuded a strange presence as if it didn't belong here. The flowers, animal and trees ,even the very ground and air felt vastly different yet... familiar.

Then it clicked.

It reminded him of LI and Kai! They let off the same presence as this place, a kind of familiar aura and power that he had felt when he first met them beckoning him to them as if he had known them beforehand. It had felt like he was safe with them their power pulling and encompassing him like one feels when in the presence of their home with family. Somewhere in the back of his mind he was sure this place was connected to them somehow. Even now he could feel this place's power calling him as he unconsciously stepped towards the gate.

It felt so surreal as if he had come home, not to the village, not to his apartment but his home. He was...home. For the first time in his life he was truly home. He blinked as he felt something warm running down his cheeks, tears, he was crying but he didn't know why. This wasn't lost on Tama as she came up to him a small frown on her face, she wanted to know why he was crying but after being assured he wasn't hurt or sad by Naruto as he wiped his eyes she smiled and took his hand leading him the rest of the way to the gate where upon Naruto's approach the seal on the gateway crest began to glow.

Naruto watched in rapt attention as the gate began to open and reveal what surely must have been a piece of paradise plucked from the heavens and taken to earth. In front of them was a vast open space partly occupied by huge shimmering pond in the far right side, he could see trees making almost a mini forest around part it as it sparkled brightly in the sun. On the left he could see another mini forest except this on was bigger and had a plethora of flowers poking out in between trees. Even still that did not seem to take away from the vast grassy field that made up the majority of this area and judging from how the wall seemed a lot smaller as they looked on this place was huge.

But what really caught Naruto's eye was the large mansion that stood in the center of this place, it was huge and utterly magnificent. It had a look that made it seem like it was part of an ancient Japanese castle, as if a large section of it had just been removed from the main building but one would have not been able to differentiate this building from a castle itself due to the sheer size and beauty of it. Near the eastern end sat a large six storied pagoda connected by a wooden walk way. The building itself looked to be at least three stories itself, cherry blossom trees blooming off it sides

. There was a large torii gate before the opening and a stone pathway that rose from the ground as if by magic heralded their approach. Naruto for the first time was at a loss for words in his young life, he had never imagined seeing something I like this. It was as they walked under towards the torii that he again noticed the same spiral that had been upon the gate, he didn't know why but he felt as if he should know that symbol but all this and any other thought in his head were dashed as Tama called out happily to a figure that had just exit through the front of the palace like structure. The figure who was a woman was dressed in a snow white yukata with light blue obi, she had long snow white hair that fluttered in the breeze and the same ice blue eyes as Tama.

"Okaa-san!" called the little girl as she flew into the surprised woman's arms. For her part the woman was very confused as to why her daughter was here shouldn't she be with...Naruto. As if somehow time had stopped the woman slowly looked up into the sky blue eyes of a small child who stood no more than ten feet away.

'He looks just like them.' the stray thought past through her head as she slowly stood up allowing her daughter to gently fall out of her arms. "Okaa-san I brought a friend home with me." said the child as she smiled up to her mother but the world had stopped for the woman as she stared at the frightened boy. She couldn't move, she couldn't breathe, he looked so much like them it was like she was staring at two ghosts of the past, tantamount to time ripping the two away and placing them in front of her years later in one child. A warm skin tone and clear, slightly rounded facial features left not doubt who's child this was. That spiky blond and those clear sky blue eyes...how long had it been, how many years since she had stared into those eyes? It was as if she could see him, 'Them' she corrected herself, standing next to the child, the child she had not seen herself in almost five years since his birth.

Her breath was caught in her throat as the wind whispered a name too gently to be heard. Naruto didn't know what was happening, one minute he was ready to bolt and the next he felt like he was stone. His mind was screaming at him to run, run far away from this lady but his body wouldn't move. Again he was being drawn in by a force he couldn't understand, but why?

Whenever he had seen adults before it never was a good thing, sometimes they would yell and throw things at him and try to hurt but other times they would call him demon and tell him to stay away from their children. Even still there were those who just ignored his existence outright, they were the worst ones of all. This though, this had to be wrong, why couldn't he run from this woman? Nothing was stopping him nothing was holding him yet he stood there still as stone.

Tama stood watching as her mother stared at Naruto with that faraway look in her eyes, it was then that she noticed something shiny and glistening as it made a trail down her mothers face. "Okaa-sann why are your crying...are you mad at me?" asked the little girl holding her mothers hand as tears began to well up in her own eyes. Letting her hand gently raise to her face she was surprised to find that she was indeed crying. "Its okay darling Kaa-san is okay." she said as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

The next twenty second for Naruto were like the last fading phantasms of a dream. In that span of time this mysterious lady had crossed the length separating them and enveloped him in a hug so tight that he couldn't have moved even if he had tried. It barely registered to him what was happening until he felt something wet drip down on his forehead. This woman who he had never met before was hugging, even crying over him...and it felt nice. It was the first hug he had ever received...

* * *

Sometime later the mystery woman had introduced herself as Tama's mother Tamayo and thus began the greatest two years of Naruto's life. For the first time he had a place where it felt like he belonged and he was happy. Many happy days passed for Naruto and true to their word Kai and Li returned in six months time totally throwing Naruto off when they walked into mansion to greet him Tamayo and Tama as they sat having an afternoon snack. Kai-ji Li-ji! Shouted the young boy as he ran up them smile a million watt smile as he did so. Greeting the energetic child with pleasantries and a smile they informed him that he would start ninja academy soon after his sixth birthday, which sent him into overdrive. He was so happy that he was jumping around like a jackrabbit on steroids, but this was brought to an end when Kai with a mysterious slightly evil gleam in his eye glanced side ways to Tamayo and Tama.

"So Naruto how have you been treating Tama-chan? Have you been taking good care of her?" the question caught tamo and her daughter off guard causing her to almost choke on her tea while her little one began to look nervous. Naruto unaware of the turmoil going on beside him answered truthfully without hesitation. "Things have been really really good. I like Tama-chan a lot ,she's fun and I play with her all the time." Said naruto causing the adults and Tama to smile. "She really likes when I rub her belly!" he finished causing Tama to blush and her mother to giggle.

"But I can never find her when I want to play with her and the other Tama-chan she always runs away but comes back home at night." Tamayo thought it best she step in deciding to nick this in the butt before the two princes decided to have more fun on her and her daughter's account. "Well little one I think that its not something to worry about so much foxes are somewhat like cats in that they like to wonder around unchecked. Though your little fox wanders around I can tell that she likes you and likes staying with you so she'll never go too far away and she'll always come back to you."

Naruto didn't know why but for some reason her words made him feel at ease, besides Tama did always come home. With those things in mind Naruto never again paid it any attention when his beloved fox wondered off though sometimes he still wondered...

The days and months passed as if a dream for Naruto, Li and Kai visited every two months, he played with Tama every day, so what if the villagers hated him he didn't care, ramen with Tuechi and Ayame and all was right with the world. Sadly these times of happiness would not last.

It is said that the greatest loss one can feel is when happiness is found, maintained an then ripped away by the cruel threads of fate. As such it was no surprise Naruto found himself crying when he learned that Tama, both of them, his friend and his beloved fox were departing the hidden village all in the same week. Though the little girl and her mother desperately wished to stay, Tamayo knew to do so would only bring harm her, her daughter and to Naruto and so it was with a heavy heart that she departed from the forest, sweeping all trace of ever being there away, allowing her daughter just two more days to stay with Naruto.

As Naruto sat stroking Tama's fur tears stream down his cheeks. He had just said goodbye to Tama and Tamayo and now he was cuddling with Tama-chan trying to ease some of the pain he felt. He knew it would only get worse because tomorrow when Li and Kai left they would be taking Tama with them, so tonight he just wanted to cuddle with his fox all he could and she likewise.

That night he met with the girl in his dreams and she too was crying...

The next day passed by all too quickly for Naruto as the sun was setting and Li and Kai began to set off with Tama. It was a bitter, heart souring feeling on both the princes hearts as they bid a crying Naruto farewell on that evening, oh how they wish to keep those two together but alas fate had dealt them a cruel hand and before the tears would stop more would flow for this would be the last time Naruto would see them for quite some time. Though they had tried their best to explain and comfort him it was not something so easily done. Try and try as they might they could not comfort the child but in the end they made him a promise.

"Naruto I know it hurts now but it wont always be this way." said Li as he tried in vain to bolster the child spirits. "So we're going to make you a promise. When we come back you will have become a fine ninja and your deeds will have be known across the land." said Kai as he wiped the tears from the small child's eyes. "But until then you must try your best at everything you do and never no matter what ever forget what we are about to tell you." said Li his tone growing serious.

"What?" sniffled Naruto who had stopped crying for the most part doing his best to try and act strong. Li gave a smirk to his brother as they stared at the blond child who was trying his best to hold back tears with his fist balled up at his side. 'He's just like his mother.' the thought passed their heads.

"Never give up." they said in perfect unison. "No matter how hard", "No matter how tough or impossible it is". "Follow your dreams and follow your heart they'll always lead you in the right direction but don't forget to use your head as well." "Treasure the people who are close to you and always have there backs thats what being a true friend is about." "Live long, live strong and don't lose hope but most importantly..." "Never no matter what never give up". They finished. It was with those words that they parted ways with Naruto leaving him to the cruel hands of the village and the world but instilling him with the drive to keep going. That had been nine years ago and here they stand now.

* * *

"Kai-ji Li-ji!" yelled Naruto as for the first time in a long time his face lit up with a million watt smile, a true smile one that conveyed happiness beyond anything they had ever seen before much to the shock of everyone in the area... The ANBU couldn't believe it, the Konoha eleven couldn't believe it, but here it was staring them right in the face. Sakura and Ino pinched themselves and Hinata... well Hinata was frozen...

Not only had these two found Naruto they addressed him basically saying that they knew him before hand and what's more Naruto had addressed them as his uncles! The universe was laughing at them right now as Naruto animatedly talked to the duo. Up on the roof tops almost everyone's brain had rebooted and now they were trying anything they could to listen in on the conversation, Li though had noticed and muttered something under his breath while holding two fingers together and instantly it was as if no sound could be heard outside the small area of the ramen shop.

"It's good to see you too Naruto." said Kai as he smiled. Naruto had so much to tell them and so many questions it was starting to make his head hurt but before he could start Kai stopped him. "Naruto I sense you have a lot of questions and we have a lot we need to tell you too so before we go any further lets move this conversation to somewhere more suitable away from prying ears." He said the loud enough that it broke through the spell all who were watching heard. Naruto's ear cocked under his henge indeed they were being listened in on.

So with that said Kai raised his two fingers together high into the air there was a bright white glow as a strand of light flowed about , gently enveloping them and then they were gone without a trace leaving everyone especially Ayame and Hinata stunned. Kiba was the first to respond as he stared at the spot from which they had vanished. "Did you guys see that!"he spout trying to keep his jaw from hitting the floor.

"What just happened there?" asked Neji as he scanned the area with his byakugan. "There is no residual chakra, heat or anything and that technique... What kind of jutsu was that?" he asked to none in particular. Shikamaru having observed the scene before him was querying that same thought. 'There wasn't a spike in chakra but there was definitely something weird about what they just did and that streaming light...what was it?' he thought as he put his hands to his head. It didn't make sense! It was impossible for people to just disappear like that! Only naruto could cause mysteries such as this appear but then again these were the two legendary warriors they were dealing with, which brought on even more questions. Shikamaru let out a sigh "So troublesome."

On the other part of the roof the girls were trying to comfort a frantic Hinata who had just seen Naruto vanish into thin air, but the stress was proving too much for her because she had a _very_ strong feeling it had to do with _that _as an image of Naruto in his fox form crossed her mind. Oh if only she knew...

When the flash of light had rescinded Naruto was surprised to find himself in the middle of his secret garden gazing out at the seemingly endless expanse of beauty. So caught up was he that he almost failed to notice that his henge had dropped and he was standing with his tails splayed out in the wind.

As panic overtook him he quickly reapplied his henge much to the amusement of Li and Kai who had caught him out of the corners of their eyes. He turned to them quickly to see if they had seen anything but they were looking elsewhere much to his relief.

"Well I think this seems to be a nice and tranquil place for us to talk-" said Kai as he moved in front of Naruto. "-but first this." he then raised his finger and brought them across the space in front of Naruto. There was a poof as the henge was dispelled leaving Naruto in all his nine-tailed glory much to his surprise. "H-how did you...?" Naruto trailed off as he looked to the eyes of both Kai and Li. "A lot has happened over the years so...Naruto let's talk shall we?" Li's eyes gleamed as he smirked.

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Hello everyone long time no see eh? well here the new chapter after who know how long but anyway thanks for sticking with me and thank for givin me your support. Drop a reveiw and let me know what you think ok?

LMZ


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